Everything I've Known
by Mongoose 187
Summary: What happens when an act of betrayal happens to Rory? She runs away with Tristan. Six years later what happens when she is about to become a mother and wants to forgive? Trory
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything Gilmore Girls belongs to The CW Network. Rated T but a chapter will have some mature thems. I'll tell you it does.

* * *

Standing outside of the school, she was watching two students trying to put up the college fair banner above the door. Her hand flew up to her mouth when the one guy fell off the ladder and pulling the banner and the other guy with him. Both of the guys stood up, brushed the dirt off their pants, and climbed the ladders again. She was so excited for the college fair she wanted to get everything that Harvard had to offer her, and some Yale stuff just to make her grandparents happy. The banner was up and safe for her to walk into the school, mostly safe Paris was standing at her locker looking pissed off.

"What can I do for you this morning Paris?" She had moved Paris off the locker and started to turn the lock.

"First, is your article done about the college fair?" She reached into her bag and pulled out the paper handing it to Paris. "Did you finish your part of our report?" Once again, she handed Paris the paper from her bag.

"Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of," Paris turned around and huffed her way over to her friends. She turned around and someone ran right into her knocking her books everywhere.

"Thanks," She bent down to pick up her books when she saw someone standing over her, he wasn't wearing the typical Chilton clothing.

"You know I have had dreams about this, but we were both wearing far less clothing, me wearing nothing and you in something red and see through,"

"I beat it was a wet dream," She never looked up to see who had just said that.

"I will have you know that hasn't happened to me since I left. Mary," Mary only one person had ever called her that, but it couldn't be him. She looked up from his sandals, his baggy faded jeans, his Fox shirt, up to his lips and stopped at his eyes. Standing in front of her, it was him the boy who left over two years ago. He smiled down at her holding a cup in his hand. "You are the first to recognize me, must've done something right," He was looking threw one of her notebooks. "Doesn't this bring back memories? You, me, one of your books good times, good times, you remember them right Rory. Trying to walk threw doors at the same time, sitting outside talking about the kiss that made you cry, talking me into dating Paris. Let us not forget my favorite moment you kissing bean after telling him how much you love him, and how much you hated me," He wiped underneath his eye. "I'm getting teary eyed just thanking about you and bean,"

"What are you doing here Tristan?"

"God I love it when you say my name like that. It makes my body all tingly inside." He gave her a smile and raised his eyebrows at her, as she grabbed her book out of his hand. "Now Rory that was not very nice of you to do that," The bell rang and he just turned around and walked away from her. "Have fun in class Mary," She turned around and walked down the hallway. She could still hear his sandals on the floor as she turned the corner.

* * *

Sitting in class, everyone was talking about Tristan and the rumors were going wild on where has been who was with, and why is he back here. One had seen him except Rory and she wasn't going to tell anyone. The rumor started when a couple of freshmen said they saw a blonde hair guy walking around school getting into Tristan's old locker and hitting on some of the girls. Yep even the dumb people who had gone to school with Tristan knew it was Tristan.

* * *

She was walking down the hallway when someone pulled her inside a classroom. She was about to yell when she felt a body pressed on her back and a hand covering her mouth.

"Shh it's just me Mary," She turned around and hit his chest. "Fuck what was that for?"

"You know what that was for," She took a deep breath and looked at him. "You never answered my question, what are you doing here?"

"Well if you must know I wanted to visit some friends, and enemies," She just looked at him with her confused look. "Will you stop that already?"

"Stop what?"

"That look on your face the one that says 'I'm Rory Gilmore smartest person in all of Chilton, but I can also be the stupidest person in the world' look," She kept the same look on her face and turned her head sideways. "Now it's the 'what you talking about Willis' look,"

"How did you know my looks?"

"Hello someone caught looking at your ear in class," He pointed to himself and she laughed some. "I just wanted this meeting to go better then our last one did, but you need to get to lunch," He looked out the door and put on sunglasses and was about to leave when he felt her hand on his arm.

"I want to see you later today," She covered her mouth as he smiled at her.

"I will grant you this one wish. I will drive you home from school," He walked out of the room and she closed her eyes.

"I just ask Tristan out. What the hell was I thinking?"

* * *

School was out and she walked to the bus stop like every other day almost forgetting about Tristan picking her up. A black car pulled up with the top down. The driver had on a hat and sunglasses and he opened the door.

"I'm not suppose to ride with strangers,"

"Not even if the stranger has candy?" He held up a Hershey bar and she tapped her chin.

"Sorry not enough." He held up a cup and she smiled now. "If that is coffee then you have yourself a passenger,"

"Then get in,"

She got into the car and took the coffee and candy bar from him. "Nice car,"

"Aston Martin DB AR1 only ninety one made." He looked over at her and the wind was blowing her hair, her right hand out the window and the left one was shielding her eyes from the sun. "Sunglasses are in the glove box," She reached inside and pulled out a pair of Oakley sunglasses they were a grey color with blue lens.

"These are nice,"

"Good they're yours a welcome home gift from me,"

"You were the one who was gone not me,"

"Details,"

"So how is Military school?"

"I have to say I like it," He looked over and she was pulling on her skit. "What are you nervous?"

"No why would I be?"

"You just seem like you are to me," He looked over and saw her looking at him. "How is my good old friend Dean doing?"

"Just fine,"

"Still dating?"

"Yep," It was quiet again and he looked over at her as they stopped.

"Why did you want to see me for?" She turned her head and looked at the car beside them.

"How much did this car cost?" He knew no answer was going to come from her and he leaned his head back.

"Around three hundred grand," She looked over at him, he smiled as the traffic started to move.

* * *

After his question, the ride was quieter then before neither one saying anything to the other. He pulled up to her house and she looked over at him since she had never told him where she lived.

"Small town," She was about to take off the sunglasses and he raised his hand. "Keep them something to remember me by," She nodded and looked at him.

"I'll see you this weekend at the college fair?"

"Nope tonight when you are dreaming about me," She looked at him one last time before getting out of his car.

* * *

The weekend was here and for most kids it means going out and getting so drunk that you can't remember where you parked your car at, but for the kids at Chilton and every other school in Connecticut this weekend means the college fair was here and must attend for all students at Chilton. The students aren't the only ones who had the school asked for the parents to attend also. Rory was up and dressed before six she decided to go with a dark blue dress. Lorelai was still in bed at seven and they had to leave at eight.

"Mom we are going to be late," Rory said opening the door to Lorelai's bedroom. Lorelai rolled over pulling the blankets over her head. "Get up and showered and dressed now,"

"Don't want to," She sounded like a little kid.

"I said now move it young lady," She pulled the covers off her mother

"Fine I'm up you can leave now," She sat up and Rory grabbed her arms pulling her out of bed.

"We are leaving in half an hour even if you aren't dressed, or our of the shower you will go as is,"

"So how many cute lonely fathers are going to be at this thing?"

"Eww go take a cold shower," She pushed her towards the bathroom and closed the door.

Seven twenty and a knock on the door Rory opened and saw her boyfriend Dean holding coffee and a brown bag.

"Breakfast," She grabbed both and walked inside the house. Lorelai ran downstairs and grabbed a coffee and her purse.

"Let's get the show on the road," Rory grabbed her empty bag and the sunglasses that Tristan gave her earlier in the week and was right behind her mom. "Were did you get those glasses?" Lorelai asked putting her own sunglasses on.

"A person at school gave them to me,"

"They must really like you those cost over a three hundred bucks," Dean looked at Rory as he got into the backseat of the Jeep, he did want to say anything after the whole Jess fiasco.

* * *

Finding a place to park at Chilton was almost imposable for them, but after Lorelai cut off a few people who in returned flipped her off they were walking up to the building. Dean had his arm over her shoulders as they walked just behind Lorelai, Rory stopped walking when she saw Tristan leaning up against the building coffee in his hand.

"You alright?" Dean leaned down and whispered into her ear.

"Yea just thinking about who I was going to talk to first Yale or Harvard," They were almost beside Tristan when Dean kissed her. They heard something falling into the trash can and both looked over at Tristan.

"Some things that you never want to see this early in the morning. I feel like I'm about to puke," He put his hands on the side of the trashcan; Dean now knew who he was.

"You have a problem?"

"Yea I feel my b and e about ready to come back up," He pounded on his stomach. "Well at least you can tell me what to pick up at the store to help me out. You may even be able to get me a coupon for it, since you do have inside connections and all," Dean was about to walk over to Tristan when Lorelai stepped in front of him.

"What's wrong poor rich boy don't want to be here? Just wants to live off his parent's money?" Tristan pushed the sunglasses down from his eyes and looked at her.

"To easy," He pushed the glasses back up and walked inside the school. Rory pulled away from Dean and ran inside after Tristan. She grabbed his arm, spinning him around.

"What the hell is your problem?" He pulled his arm away from her.

"I have no problem Mary, go back to your wonderful boyfriend and your great little life," He walked away from her as Dean and Lorelai walked over to her.

"You alright Rory?" Dean asked taking her hand into his.

"Yea everything is fine,"

* * *

He was by the refreshment table when he saw Lorelai walking over to him. The look on her face was probably what they were talking about if looks could kill.

"What the hell was that this morning?"

"Which part me waking up, showering, eating, drinking coffee. See I done a lot of stuff this morning so you're going to have to trim it down for me,"

"It's no wonder my daughter hates you."

"Yea she really hates me. I remember that time at Madeline's party when we shared our first kiss she must've hated me so much,"

"She did run away crying,"

"Yea she did, but I think you had a lot to do with that. She told me the next day about wallowing and how she didn't do it. See my thinking is that a little birdie told her she had to wallow,"

"You have an answer for everything don't you?" He tilted his head some and closed one eye.

"Yea I do," He saw Dean and Rory walking over to them.

"Mom they are giving us an hour for lunch,"

"Where do you want to go?" Lorelai asked still looking at Tristan.

"I know of this little Chinese place not to far away from here," He pointed and the three of them looked at him.

"I wasn't talking to you,"

"Well then maybe you shouldn't be looking at me when you are talking." He pulled his keys out and looked at Rory. "Come on I'll drive and even pay for your lunches. A way of saying I'm sorry for getting off to a bad start," Rory looked up at her mom and knew free food would break her.

"Fine but no talking to us," He raised his hands and just nodded. Lorelai was walking ahead of them, Dean was to her left and Tristan was to her right. She looked up and saw Dean was looking down at her smiling. Looking to her right she saw Tristan was looking at her mom's ass. She elbowed him in the side and he looked down at her. Dean kept walking as she grabbed Tristan's arm.

"Stop looking at my mom's ass,"

"Way it's a very nice ass," He looked up to see her getting into the Jeep.

"Come on Rory we only have an hour,"

"She is going to ride with me. Don't want me getting lonely on the drive," Before she could say anything he grabbed her bag off her hands and walked over to his car. She tired to grab the bag, but he locked it in the trunk of the car. This was going to be a long hour.

* * *

In the car, Tristan looked in the mirror and saw Dean reach his hand over and kept it one what he thought was her leg. He looked at the road and then back up and his hand was moving back and forth.

"How close is your boyfriend and mother?" She looked over at him.

"Why?"

"Just wondering," Looking back, he saw the same thing that he saw before Dean's arm moving.

* * *

**I'm looking for a beta so if you are intrested get a hold of me.** I wanted to do something different and trust me it's different. It has always seemed to me that Lorelai liked Dean a little more then Rory did. The story title is a song from **Korn** album is **Take A Look In The Mirror. **


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to my beta **Bookluvr16 **for making the chapter so much better. This chapter is for **finnluvers24-7** who asked for it as aChristmas gift.

* * *

He looked back again and still saw his arm moving. Rory was about to look back, and he didn't need this right now.

"Nice glasses," She stopped and looked over at his smiling face.

"Yea some jackass gave them to me,"

"Ouch that hurts Rory," She saw his hand was moving towards her leg. He knew that he needed something to distract her so she wouldn't look back. She didn't want to make any sudden moves with her mom and Dean just behind them. He had his hand on her bare thigh and was drawing little circles on the inside. She reached her hand down and sat it on top of his.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to cop a fill,"

"Well stop that. I have a boyfriend," He removed his hand as they pulled into a parking lot.

* * *

"Rory I've never eaten Chinese food before," They were standing at the door and Rory looked up at him.

"Then don't get chopsticks," She took his hand and they walked inside. Tristan and Lorelai were looking at each other ready for a battle. Rory looked at the two chairs that sat together at the table. She could either sit Dean and Tristan together, or Tristan and her mom. Either way would create some major issues. Deciding on putting two lesser evils together she sat down beside Tristan while Dean just looked at her. They all picked up the menus and Tristan didn't even try to mask his laugh as Dean had the menu upside down, which got him a swift kick on the side of the leg from Rory. The waiter walked over to them and Tristan was the first to speak.

"We will start out with Char Siu Bao," He nodded and walked away from them.

"What are we starting out with?" Dean asked looking over at Rory.

"Just barbeque-flavored pork with onions," She felt Tristans hand back on her leg, but this time it was under the bottom of her dress.

"So what schools are everyone interested in?" Tristan laughed a bit knowing she was directing the question mainly at him.

"Seeing as you already know what school Rory wants to go to and you know what trade school Dean over there wants to go to; I take it the question was directed towards me," Rory kicked him again as Dean and Lorelai were looking like they were about to jump over the table and cause bodily harm. "My dad wants Yale, mom wants Stanford, and so I was thinking the United States Naval Academy,"

"You want to be in the navy?" Rory looked over at him and he squeezed her thigh.

"Yea a Navy Seal,"

* * *

They were back at Chilton the lunch went alright except Dean tried to us the chopsticks and dropped food all over himself. Rory looked over her shoulder and saw that Tristan was talking to the Navy recruiter and she smiled. He was one of a few kids who parents didn't show up with him and she was wondering why. She walked over to him after he was done talking, her hands behind her back as he smiled at her.

"You know if you keep coming over here I'm going to think you want me,"

"Did you have a nice talk with the man in uniform?" He noticed she didn't answer him.

"Yea I was the first one who didn't hit on him." Rory smiled slightly at this.

"Well they do have the don't ask don't tell," He saw Dean was looking over at them.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Washing my hair," They both laughed which made Dean's face even redder.

"All right how about after you wash your hair?" Tristan said with a grin.

"Takes all night to wash my hair, why are you asking me out tonight?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow for North Carolina and was hoping to spend my last night next to your naked, sweaty body," She leaned up as he bent his head down.

"Your bed or mine," She looked at his face and saw he was stunned. She was laughing now and he just looked at her.

"Mean, evil women, get a teenage boys hopes up and then throw cold water on him," Tristan said. He looked as if someone had kicked his puppy.

"What did you have in mind other then the naked and in bed part?"

"Just some coffee."

"Alright pick me up at seven," Tristan walked away and she saw Dean walking over to her.

"What?" Rory said defensively.

"What, is that I know this routine. That pretty boy just wants to get you into bed." Rory smiled thinking back on the conversation she just had with Tristan.

"Dean Tristan is leaving tomorrow and wants to have some coffee with me tonight." Rory said starting to walk away.

"And you said yes." Dean said as if this were a massive betrayal on Rory's part. Rory looked at him disbelievingly.

"He's leaving tomorrow Dean. I will probably never see him again, and it's just coffee. It's not like I'm going to end up sweaty and naked in his bed"

"Did he say that?" She just walked away from him with a grin, not saying anything else.

* * *

Tristan picked her up at seven and they went out to a diner and got something to eat. He drove back to his place and this certainly wasn't what she was excepting to happen; a coffee shop yes, but not his place. She tuned back into the conversation after she drove all serious thoughts out of her head. She was having fun so far and wasn't about to completely destroy the evening.

"You didn't lock all the boys out of the showers naked," She was laughing as he nodded.

"Yea I lit off some fire crackers and they all took off running. When they figured out it was me I had the door locked and the shower all to myself." She was laughing so hard she had tears running down her face as they walked up to the pool house.

"Why are we here anyways?"

"I get lonely at nights, and hear strange voices coming from my closet. Would you please scare away the monsters?" He pleaded with a puppy dog look on his face.

"That probably sounded better in your head but lacked a certain punch. Now seriously,"

"Relax I have coffee and no one is home," They didn't walk into the main house they went straight out back to the pool house. He unlocked the door and bowed for her to enter first.

"Well I guess chivalry isn't dead. So you stay out here all by your lonesome?"

"Yea I can't stand to be in that house,"

"Well you've got some nice digs yo," She said wryly as she walked over to counter, sat down on the stool, and was watched him.

"First off never do that again. Way too scary and yea it is," His eyes were on hers. She could feel her cheeks heating up with the telltale signs of a blush. He walked over to her and she stood up.

"What are you going to do?" She asked nervously.

"I'm going to kiss you. And I sure do hope that you don't run away crying again," He placed his right hand on her cheek and the other one on her hip. She closed her eyes as his lips touched hers. The kiss was soft and gentle. As she began to kiss him back he pulled back some and she could feel his breath on her lips.

"The coffee is done," He nodded and put his forehead on hers. His thumb was rubbing her bottom lip. He walked over to the coffee maker and poured them each a cup.

"Glad you aren't crying," He stated with a Cheshire cat grin. She just looked down at her cup.

"Don't go," She mumbled with her head still down and he looked at her.

"What was that?" He asked. He had to be hearing things.

"I don't want you to go back to North Carolina," She looked up at him in shock as if she couldn't believe those words were coming out of her mouth. That made two of them.

"Rory there is nothing left here for me. My home is not here anymore it's in North Carolina,"

"I never hated you Tristan," She looked up at him and her eyes were glassy with unshed tears that were about to pour down her face any minute now.

"What do you want me to stay for? I was a complete jerk to your mom, and now she hates me. You already have a boyfriend who, as you already said to the entire student body, that you love. I can't keep doing this. You can't keep doing this to me. You get my hopes up and then crash them down as if I don't have any feelings. I'm not a toy. It may seem to the entire population that I'm a playboy with no feelings but I have a soul and I can bleed with the best of them. You make me bleed and I can't do that and then patch it up everytime you decide that you can't trust me. Hell, your mom has the worst opinion about me, when I drop you off at your house, you will go inside and get grilled by your mom about what happened tonight. Did he hurt you? Are you still a Mary?"

"Mom won't ask me that," Rory replied indignantly.

"No but Dean will want to know that. Your life is so different from mine. This right here is what I'm coming home to," He waved his hand around the room. "Nothing, no one, I have no friends here, my parents are, god knows where right now. I was miserable here, I am miserable here. I'm so glad that I broke into that damn safe. It was the best thing that I've ever done," She looked up and saw he now had tears in his eyes. "My life isn't here. I have friends who like me for being myself, and not because I have money. If I was to stay here I would have to live at this place, be one of them again and I don't want that. I want to show when I'm mad or sad or even happy without being judged," He didn't know when he started to yell, but by the end of his speech he was yelling.

"Then why in the bloody hell did you kiss me?" She yelled back at him and he just looked at her.

"You are my kryptonite Rory Gilmore. Even after everything I just said, if I thought for one minute that I could have a chance at being with you, God knows I would stay. I would give up everything I have just to be with you," She reached her hand up and touched his cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. She looked over her shoulder and saw his unmade bed and closed her eyes. She was internally battling herself.

"I don't want to be a Mary." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "I don't want the name anymore Tristan. I don't want to always do the right thing, or what everyone expects me to do. I'm seventeen and only kissed three people who aren't my family. I'm tired of doing the right thing all the time. I just want to act like a normal teenager. I don't want to be scared of having sex, because my mom had a one year old at my age," She kissed him and they were walking backwards towards the bed. Her knees hit the edge of the bed and she sat down on it.

"You know how hard it's going to be for me to leave tomorrow if we do this?" She nodded and pulled his shirt off. Her hands were shaking as he lifted her shit over her head.

* * *

She was lying beside him looking up at the fan that was on. This wasn't supposed to happen, not with him and not like this. Her body was still shaking as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?" She rolled over and was now looking at him in the eyes.

"Nothing really," She lied to him not wanting to say this was a mistake.

"You're lying to me. Tell me good or bad what's going on inside that head of yours," He was tapping her forehead and she just smiled.

"What happens now with us? You're leaving tomorrow and not coming back,"

"Ask me to stay and I will. If you can lay here and ask me to stay I will do everything in my power to stay here with you," She closed her eyes and he had his answer.

"I can't ask you to change your life right now. You have friends who you don't want to leave. You even said it yourself you have nothing left here, North Carolina is your home,"

"Then give me a reason to stay here Rory. I said it before if you give me a reason to stay I will,"

"I don't want you to give up your life for me. I'm a wreak right now. I just cheated on my boyfriend twice now. I don't know what I feel for Jess. I just had sex for the first time to someone at one time I thought I hated," She felt the bed moving as he was now getting dressed. His back was turned towards her so she couldn't see his eyes that were glassy now.

"Go get dressed I'll take you home," She wanted to say something to him, but nothing seemed right or comforting so she just kept her mouth shut. She pulled the sheet off the bed and picked up her clothes.

* * *

The drive back to Stars Hollow was as silent as the dead. Neither one really knew what to say to the other. Rory was looking out the window at the passing cars. Tristan was continuously looking at the road and over at her. Why she had this hold on him he would never know.

He pulled up to her house and they were both sitting in the car just staring straight ahead, finally it was Rory who decided to talk.

"I'm sorry Tristan,"

"For what?" He looked over at her and she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Everything,"

"Me too,"

"Goodbye Tristan DuGrey," He looked over at her saw the tears running down her cheeks.

"Goodbye Mary," She smiled as he leaned over and kissed her.

"I don't regret it," she whispered into his ear before getting out of the car. She was about to close the door when she saw his open.

"Come with me," She looked over at him.

"What?"

"Come with me. No, I don't have a plan for everything. I just know if you were to come with me I would figure everything out," She looked down at her shoes and then back up at his eyes.

"I can't Tristan. I'm sorry," He nodded and got back into the car. She walked up to her steps and sat down. She pulled her phone out and saw he had put his number in it. Her finger was right above the number, when she closed it.

She walked inside the house and leaned up against the door. The only light that was on was from the tv, her mom must have fallen asleep waiting for her. She walked over to the couch. Her hand came over her mouth as she just ran out the door as fast as she could. She was now crying from what she had seen on the couch. She pulled out her cell phone and pushed the button this time.

"Could…Could yo… you come and get m…me I want to go with you," A few minutes later the black car pulled up and she jumped into the passenger side of the car.

"Rory what happened?" Tristan asked as worry was etched into his features.

"Can we just go?" She pleaded with tears running down her face. He just nodded and drove off.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the first chapter. I'll also like to thank everyone who offered to beta the story for me. In the first chapter I said it was two years since she had seen Tristan, but it was only one sorry about that. The next chapter will start six years from the end of this one, and I will be using flashbacks to fill in holes as I go on. Once again thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter 


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks goes to **Bookluvr16 **for beating the chapter for me.**

* * *

**

**Six years latter,**

"I have an appointment with the doctor," She was looking around the waiting area.

"Name please,"

"Leigh DuGrey,"

"Fill this out and the doctor will see you shortly." She took the papers and was filling them out. After the ordeal with her mom, she changed her name to Leigh not wanting to be reminded of her mother.

Rory was sitting in a waiting area and she was scared of what was about to happen inside that sterile exam room. She looked around and saw a few other people were sitting around.

"Mrs. DuGrey the doctor will see you know," Leigh picked up her bag and walked inside the office. The doctor was sitting behind his desk looking over a file.

"Mrs. Dugrey please have a seat,"

"You can call me Rory," She sat down as he moved from behind his desk and sat down beside her.

"Okay Rory what do you want to talk about?"

"Aren't you supposed to ask me a question first?"

"Okay let's talk about your husband. It says here he is in the military,"

"Yes, he's a Navy SEAL,"

"How did you two meet?"

"We went to high school together. He left for over a year and when he came back we kind of hit it off again,"

"Are you close to any other family member?" She really didn't know what to say about this.

"I use to be with Lorelai, but I haven't seen her in six years. I talk to my dad and my half sister every week,"

"Lorelai is your mother."

"Not since I caught her and Dean on the couch,"

"Does your being here have anything to do with your mother?" She nodded and he wrote something down. "Why don't we talk about that then?"

* * *

_Flashback,_

_She walked inside the house and leaned up against the door. The only light that was on was from the TV, her mom must have fallen asleep waiting for her. She walked over to the couch. Her hand came over her mouth as she just ran out the door as fast as she could. Tears began streaming down her face as her mind replayed the images. She pulled out her cell phone and pushed the button this time._

"_Could…Could yo… you come and get m…me I want to go with you," A few minutes later the black car pulled up and she jumped into the passenger side of the car._

"_Rory what happened?" Tristan asked as worry was etched into his features. _

"_Can we just go?" She pleaded with tears running down her face. He just nodded and drove off._

_Pulling into his house, they walked out back to the pool house. She has tried to be strong and brave but the dam broke and rivers of tears began to pour down her cheeks. He wrapped his arms around her, but her sobs were still coming._

"_Rory talk to me here. Tell me what happened," _

"_I…saw…them…together… hav… having sex," He was rubbing her back as she wrapped her arms around him._

"_Who, Rory? Come on keep talking to me baby,"_

"_Mom…Dean on the couch naked," He closed his eyes and pulled her closer to his chest. He had hoped that what he saw earlier was all in his mind but it wasn't._

"_Everything is going to be alright Rory I promise you, everything is going to be alright," She looked up and he kissed her forehead._

"_I want to go with you Tristan. I want to leave everything behind; I don't want to have to see them again. I don't know what I would do if I had to stay here," He used his thumb to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She closed her eyes and pulled him closer to her body._

"_Okay," He didn't know what else to say to her._

_After a few hours, she was asleep. He laid next to her carefully tracing her features with his eyes as well as the tips of his fingers. He couldn't fathom how the woman he thought loved this girl so much could hurt her this bad; make her look this vulnerable. He looked over at her phone, which he turned to vibrate so it didn't wake her up. He carefully moved out of the bed, but it woke her up._

"_Tristan," Her soft voice cried out. He stopped and looked at her._

"_I'm going to go to your house and pack your clothes. Is their anything else you need?"_

"_No,"_

"_I will handle everything okay," She nodded and closed her eyes._

"_Was it all a dream?" She asked with a childish hope lighting her eyes momentarily._

"_No I'm so sorry Rory. I'll be back soon with your things," She was already asleep again._

_End flashback,

* * *

_

"A few hours later he came back with my clothes, some books, and CDs."

"He never told you what happened at the house?" She shook her head no. "What about this Dean guy, have you talked to him since then?"

"No the only person I've talk to from there is Luke and my best friend Lane."

"Who is Luke?"

"He was my father figure. I always wanted him and my mom to get together."

"Does he tell you about your mom?"

"Only if I ask him."

"Have you asked him?"

"No."

"What about Lane?"

"We grew up together and she was basically my only friend, other then Lorelai."

"Okay where is your husband now?"

"He's was called out a few months ago. He is do back next week."

"How far along are you?" She put her hand on her stomach and smiled.

"Twenty-four weeks."

"Your first child?"

"Yea. I just don't know if I can do this after all the issues that I had with my mom. I don't want my child hating me."

"You have probably heard this from everyone, but you are not your mother Rory."

"I talked to the priest on base where Tristan is stationed and he said the same thing. I'm scared, and not just the first time mother jitters things I've been reading about, but thinking that I might do something to force my child to leave me." She started crying again and the doctor was writing things down. "I just don't think I can do this."

"Okay I'm here to help you out Rory. What I suggest is that you talk to your husband first and have him tell you what happened that night he went to pick up your things. Then call Luke and ask about your mother, or other family members who you can talk to. Then I would tell you to talk to her over the phone, or write her a letter telling her what has been going on in your life and tell her how she had hurt you. Then have a sit down face to face talk with her,"

"I don't think I can do that," She dried her eyes with a tissue that he handed her.

"That's why you start off with the little things first talk to your husband. When is he coming home again?"

"Next week."

"Okay we will have an appointment set up for Friday at four thirty. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, I have a doctors' appointment at noon, but I can make it here," He nodded and handed her a card.

* * *

She was at the base airport waiting for Tristan to come home. He had to leave right after finding out she was pregnant. She saw him walking in his full dress uniform and made a straight line for him. Her lips were on his, his hands went straight to her stomach and she felt him smile.

"I missed you so much," She was kissing his jaw, neck, cheek every where she could.

"I missed you too," He kissed her again. He had missed so much like he always does when he is called back into duty.

"We need to talk about something later tonight," He nodded and they were walking out of the airport.

"After I take my beautiful wife in our bed and have my way with her,"

"I like your plan DuGrey," She touched his name tag and laughed.

* * *

Lying in his arms again she felt more a peace then ever before. She knew they needed to talk about what happened that night. She was holding his dog tags in her right hand.

"I saw a psychologist last week," He was proud of her for finally getting some type of help.

"I told you years ago you need professional help." She smacked his chest. "This is about Lorelai," More of a statement then a question, but she nodded.

"Yea I don't know how to get over all of these feelings I have inside of me," She closed her eyes as he kissed the top of her head.

"What did he say?"

"To talk to you about what happened the night you went back to get my things," She looked up and he took a deep breath.

* * *

_Flashback,_

"_Who the hell is calling me at one in the morning?"_

"_It's me grandpa. I need your help with something,"_

"_Call one of your friends to bail you out of jail. I'm trying to sleep,"_

"_I don't need bail money right now, maybe later. I need you to make a few calls for me before Monday. I need you to get Lorelai Gilmore into the best private school in North Carolina,"_

"_Why?"_

"_I will tell you all in the morning. But first I need to get a ticket for the same flight I'm on. Could you call your friend at the airport?"_

"_Yes, I'll see you in the morning," _

_He didn't know what to make of what just happened with Rory. Her mom and Dean, well, that was just wrong. No matter how screwed up his dad was he would never sleep with one of his girlfriends. He couldn't get the picture of her broken and crying out of his head. He pulled up to the house and saw the lights were now on unlike before. He walked up to the door and pounded his fist. He heard voices, and people running around inside the house. The door opened and Lorelai was standing in front of him hair missed up, her face was red, and she was out of breath; the paradigm of virtue and chastity. Yeah right._

"_What the hell do you want, and where is my daughter?"_

"_First you don't get to ask me questions, second how the hell could you do that to her?"_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Having sex with her boyfriend," He yelled and her face went from red to white in seconds._

"_I have no idea what you're talking about," She ran her hand threw her hair._

"_She saw the two of you getting freaky on the couch," He saw Dean walking out from behind a wall. He pushed past her and punched him in the jaw. He was flexing his hand as Dean fell to the ground. "Where is her room?" He turned around and looked at Lorelai who was just standing there looking at him._

"_Why?" Lorelai asked as she walked over to Dean and was looking at his jaw._

"_She is leaving tomorrow morning," They both looked up as he started to walk around the house. He came to a room and knew it was hers. He walked back out to his car and grabbed suite cases from the back seat. Lorelai was right behind him._

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_I'm going back home tomorrow and Rory is coming with me,"_

"_Like hell she is. I'm her mother and I say she's not going anywhere," He turned around and looked at her._

"_Why couldn't you just say 'Yes Tristan she can go live with you, seeing how I fucked her boyfriend on the couch and she walked in on us,' That would've been so much better,"_

"_I will not let you take my daughter to god knows where," He laughed as he walked back into the house. Dean was now standing at the door. He kneed him in the stomach, and punched him in the face again. He stepped over Dean's body, as did Lorelai. Reaching her room, he put the cases onto the bed and was opening up her closet._

"_Your daughter will be in North Carolina. You will never call her, send her a fax, text her, email her. If she wants to get in contact with you, she will. You will let her become emancipated,"_

"_The hell I will,"_

"_How old is Dean seventeen, and you're what thirty four? I wonder how his parents are going to react when they find out that their son is having sex with his girlfriend's mom?" He was throwing the clothes in at this point, he didn't want to spend anymore time in this house then he had to._

"_Why are you doing this?" He saw the tears that were coming down Lorelai's face._

"_Your tears are nothing compared to that of what Rory has shed since I picked her up from here. I didn't do any of this, you did. All I want to do is try to help her put her life back in order." He saw that Dean was still standing at the table watching, listening to them talk. "I'll have a lawyer bring you the papers for you to sign in the afternoon." He turned to Dean who was holding a towel to his bloody nose. "Same goes for you never talk to her again or I swear to god, I will kill you," He walked outside, with Lorelai still on his heels._

"_Will you take care of her?" Tristan turned around and looked at her. For a split second, he felt somewhat sorry for her._

"_I'm already doing that," Lorelai walked back into the house and hugged Dean._

_End Flashback,

* * *

_

"And then I drove home," He ran his hand down her chest and laid it on her stomach.

"She wouldn't even say anything about ending it with Dean?" Her eyes were closed as Tristan was rubbing her stomach.

"Sorry babe,"

"I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow,"

"I have to go to the base in the morning. Then I'm all yours," She kissed him again.

"Carol said she would bring you over some of her fried chicken Saturday,"

"I always knew I liked that woman," She looked up at him and he just smiled.

"Yea she has been great to us," Rory yawned and Tristan looked down at her.

"Let's get some sleep," She nodded into his chest and closed her eyes.

* * *

_Flashback,_

_Tristan drove back to his place and walked into the pool house. He saw Rory was still sleeping on the bed. On his way over, he had got her a ticket on the same flight he had. He changed into a pair of shorts and moved behind her. He pulled her into his chest, he moved his leg between hers, and she circled her foot behind his calf._

"_Tristan,"_

"_Yea it's me,"_

"_Cold," He pulled the blanket over the both of them, as she moved further into his chest. "How did it go?" Her eyes were still closed as he tighten his grip on her_

"_Everything is taken care of,"_

"_Was he still their?"_

"_Yea,"_

"_Did you punch?" He laughed hoping she would like his answer._

"_Twice,"_

"_Good," He could tell she is half-asleep and he kisses the back of her head._

"_Thank you,"_

"_Goodnight Mary,"_

_End Flashback,_

_

* * *

_Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Every chapter will have atleast on flashback in it, but most of it will be present time except the next chapter. Next chapter will be what happened to push Tristan and Rory together. Once again thanks for all the reviews. 


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is a little darker then the others it has a****ttempted rape, but nothing graphic.**

Thanks goes to **Bookluvr16** and **LoVe 23** both for betaing this chapter.

* * *

Rory was cooking breakfast as Tristan walked out from their bedroom. He walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek then turned and made his way to the kitchen table.

"The doctor said I should work my way up to talking to Lorelai," Rory said. She spoke as if she were reciting a grocery list; but Tristan knew that the only way she could even consider talking to her mother was to deal with it using no emotion. If she did she would run screaming.

"He's right Rory," he said as he walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I just don't know if I can do that. After all these years of hating her, how can I just walk up to her and start talking?" She turned around and he looked up at her.

"He never said it would be easy, but you can do this. I know you can." He said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"You want to talk about your mission?" This was always a sore subject after he came home. He pushed away from her and sat down at the table.

"The same as always," He said shrugging. "We didn't lose anyone so it was a good mission." She knew something was wrong, as she noticed his hesitation. She didn't want to push him though, so she set the waffles down on the table, took a seat, and once again changed the subject.

"What time are you leaving?" She asked, placing a waffle on her plate.

"Seven hundred." He said stiffly, as he did the same.

"My appointment is for noon." She said taking a bite of her waffle.

"I will be back here around eleven hundred." He said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I hate when you come back and still on military time." She complained, putting her fork down in exasperation.

"I know and I'm sorry." He said as he reached over the table and grabbed her hand. "What have I missed?" He said, giving her a small smile and sounding much more relaxed. She returned his smile and squeezed his hand, before letting it go so they could continue eating.

"Let's see we have new neighbors, who have a dog. And let me tell you that dog is one yippy little thing. It started barking at me so I told it to go converse with Satan; evil little devil dog. Larry got himself a new girlfriend; a little crazy. Um… the baby is perfectly healthy, as am I. We almost won a million dollars or so the mail said. Yourmothercalledandwantsustocomeandseeherwhenyougothome." The last part was said rather quickly, but he caught it. She wasn't sure how he'd react, so she focused on her plate. He saw her nervousness and narrowed his eyes.

"Did she say why?" He asked slowly.

"Nope." She answered, stabbing at her waffles with her fork.

"Did you tell her you were…" He said, trailing off

"No." He breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a smile, and they finished eating.

* * *

"Hi Dr. Roberts!" She called out as she entered the office. 

"Rory it's great to see you again. How did your check up go?"

"Great thanks for asking." She set her bag down and sat down in the comfy chair that was her usual chair

"So how is your husband?"

"Safe and with all his body parts in the right place." She laughed.

"So I thought today we could talk about him." He said, flipping the page in his notepad to a blank one. "You said he left for over a year. Why?" He asked, looking up from his notepad

"His dad sent him to military school almost the end of our junior year."

"And why did he come back?" He prodded.

"A college fair my school was having." She answered, remembering that day.

"Did he ever meet your family?"

"My grandfather at my sixteenth birthday, and Lorelai at the school."

"Have you met any of his family?"

"His grandfather was at our wedding,"

"How has your relationship changed over the years with him?"

_Flashback, (The day after leaving Stars Hollow)_

_Tristan opened the door to an apartment. Rory walked right in behind and sat her bags on the floor._

"_Is this where you stay?" She asked, looking around._

"_No. I live at the school." He answered walking around the apartment._

"_Speaking of school…what am I going to do about it?" She asked, getting down to business._

"_You my dear start school tomorrow at North Carolina's best private school." He pointed to the uniform that was lying on the bed._

"_How did you do that?" She asked in awe._

"_Called someone, who called someone, and then the first guy gave a hefty donation to the school." He said shrugging as if it were an everyday occurrence._

"_Your parents know I'm with you?" She asked, eyes wide with shock._

"_God no! I would never call them! My grandfather on the other hand…" He trailed off, smirking at her._

"_Why would he help me, when he doesn't even know me?" She asked, skeptically._

"_Because I asked him to." He said simply._

"_Tell him thank you for me." She said in a small voice._

"_I will." He said, giving her a genuine smile. He looked down at his watch and noticed the time. "I have to run, but I will call you. The black car outside is all yours. There is a map to the school, and you have to pick up your schedule in the morning." He walked over and hugged her._

"_Everything is going to work out right?" She asked him with tears in her eyes._

"_Yea." He whispered. She kissed him on the cheek as he walked out of the apartment._

_End Flashback_

"So you see I went from thinking I hated him, to not hating him, to having sex with him, to him becoming my best friend." She listed off.

"So when did the friendship turn to more?" The doctor asked, flipping to a new page.

_Flashback (A few months later)_

_Rory was waiting for Tristan to come and pick her up. They were going to the movies like every other Friday night. They never talked about that night at his pool house, or about her mother. He had become her best friend since coming with him._

"_I know! I know. 'Why are you late this time, Tristan?'" He said, doing a pretty bad imitation of her. She noticed that he was still wearing his uniform. "I was kept over for a violation." He sighed._

"_What did you do now?" She said, in a scolding tone._

"_It was Larry I swear!" He said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. " He emptied all the salt shakers and filled them up with sand," He walked into the guest bedroom. She was right behind him._

"_I was one of the few who didn't use any salt." He continued as he made his way to the closet._

"_So they thought you were in on the prank." She concluded._

"_Can you believe that?" He asked in outrage._

"_Yea, you and Larry are best friends, and you have gotten in trouble with him in the past." She explained._

"_Are you ever going to let it go?" He asked, letting out a deep sigh._

"_Nope, we missed the largest sale in the history of sales." She said in an overly cheerful voice._

"_It was a book store Mary, and I made it up to you." He said, practically whining._

"_Yea the Amazon gift card was a nice touch." She deadpanned._

"Nice touch?_ It was for over a thousand dollars!" He ranted as he pulled a grey shirt over his head and put a red button up over it._

"_I broke up with Derek today." She blurted out._

"_Why?" He asked in shock. She looked down and he knew something bad happened._

"_He wanted more than I did." She said, softly, unable to meet his eyes. He walked up to her and made her look up at him._

"_Let me see your arms!" He demanded._

"_It's nothing Tristan," He moved closer to her. His eyes were a very dark color, which was not good._

"_Let me see your arms." He said, with clenched teeth. She pulled the sleeves up and he saw bruises._

"_That son of a bitch I'll kill him!," He shouted, walking passed her._

"_Tristan can we please just go watch the movie, please?" She begged. He turned to her and noticed the tears in her eyes, and he deflated visibly. He simply nodded, not having the energy to fight it._

_The movie had just ended and they were walking out of the theater. Tristan had gone to the restroom and Rory was outside waiting for him. _

"_Well who do we have here?" She turned around and saw Derek was with one of his friends walking towards her._

"_Get away from me Derek!" She said stiffly, trying not to show fear._

"_Come on babe this afternoon was a _misunderstanding_." He said, sounding overly sweet._

"_You _hurt_ me." She said looking at him as if he were crazy. He tried to put his arm around her, but she took a step away from him. Her back hit the wall and both Derek and his friend were smiling at her._

"_No where to run, no where to hide this time." He said in a sing song voice. His friend grabbed her and pulled her to the side of the building._

_Tears were coming down her face as Derek laughed. He tore her shirt opened and she was trying to get away. She kicked Derek in the stomach, which got her a backhand to the face. _

"_Don't fight it. It would hurt a lot less, if you just try and _relax_." He said in a husky voice, her struggling and the look of fear on her face, clearly turning him on. He was kissing her chest as his friend was kissing her neck. She kicked his friend in the knee and he fell to the ground. Derek punched her in the face this time. She fell to the ground and just closed her eyes as she heard belts unbuckling._

_Tristan had walked out of the theater and didn't see Rory standing by the car. He walked over to the car and she wasn't sitting inside. He saw some movement at the side of the building and he got a pit in his stomach. He saw two guys; one had his pants around his ankles as the other one was trying to pull the women's pants down. _

"_Rory," He ran over and tackled both of the men. _

_Rory opened her eyes and saw someone was beating the ever-lovin' shit out of Derek. She looked around for the other guy and when she spotted him she noticed that he was not moving. She pulled her ripped shirt over her chest, and refastened her pants. She saw Tristan throw Derek up along a brick wall, and then punched him. His friend was trying to get up and Tristan kicked him in the face, sending him back to the ground. Derek jumped onto his back and Tristan threw him onto the ground. Military school was coming in handy for him. _

_What happened next was scary; Tristan grabbed a beer bottle and smashed it against the wall, leaving only the broken neck in his hands._

"_Tristan stop!" She called out frantically. He didn't even look over at her as he was about to bring the bottle down over Derek's chest. Not even a second later, she saw the flashing of police lights._

"_Police! Put down the weapon and step away from the body." The officer called out. Tristan looked over at the police who had their weapons drawn. Looking back down at the man whose face was covered in blood, he dropped the bottle and raised his hands. Rory got up quickly and ambled over to him and hugged him tight. He felt her crying on his shoulder as the officers moved towards the two guys on the ground. He pulled his red shirt off and she slipped it over her ripped one. An officer came over and hand cuffed Tristan as his partner walked over to Rory._

"_I'm Officer Hernandez. Can you tell me what happened?"_

"_They were trying to rape me," She cried as the female officer wrapped her arms around her._

"_Everything is all right now. Can you tell me your name?"_

"_Rory Gilmore,"_

"_Alright Rory were going to put you in the car until the paramedics get here." She saw them putting Tristan into the back of another car._

"_What are you doing to Tristan?"_

"_He is under arrest for assault."_

"_He saved me from getting raped," she said with wide eyes._

"_How do you know him?"_

"_We're friends." She answered, looking back at Tristan. Officer Hernandez led her over to a car, and placed her in the front seat._

_She saw another male officer doing CPR to Derek's friend, which wasn't a good sign. Derek was sitting along the wall holding his stomach. The paramedics ran over to the police officer and took over for him. Officer Hernandez walked over and opened the door up._

"_I want to talk to Tristan." Rory said quickly._

"_I'm sorry you can't. I need to ask you a few questions." Officer Hernandez said apologetically._

"_I want to talk to Tristan now." She screamed and the Officer closed her eyes._

"_Just for a few minutes." She relented. She led Rory back to the other car, and opened the door. Rory quickly threw her arms around his shoulders._

"_Shh... everything is going to be alright Rory. I need you to listen to me and do what I say. You want to file charges against them, and don't answer any questions about me." She nodded as he kissed the side of head._

"_I'm sorry Tristan." She sobbed against his shoulder._

"_This is not your fault Rory. Never believe that this is your fault." He said reassuringly. She felt the Officer touch her shoulder. _

"_I want to file charges." Rory said as soon as she faced the officer._

"_We can do that, but we have to go to the station." The officer explained._

_She was sitting at a desk waiting for a detective to take her statement. Another female walked over and handed her a cup of coffee._

"_Is there someone we can call? A parent." She asked, giving Rory a warm sympathetic smile._

"_No I live here alone. I was emancipated about a month ago." Rory explained, somewhat wistfully._

"_Okay I need your full name." She asked, taking her seat._

_An hour later, she handed over the yellow paper and the officer read it._

"_Where's Tristan?" Rory asked quickly._

"_Waiting for his lawyer to show up." The officer explained, giving her another small smile._

"_He stopped them." Rory said suddenly. The detective looked up from the papers and just nodded._

"_The District Attorney probably won't file charges." She said simply. _

"_Can I have some more coffee?" Rory asked shyly._

"_Yea let me get you some." She walked away as Rory saw a man in what looked to be a thousand dollar suite walk into the station._

"_May I help you?" A male officer said, addressing the well dressed man._

"_I'm here to see my clients, Tristan DuGrey and Lorelai Gilmore." The lawyer said, pointing towards Rory. The officer nodded and motioned for him to carry on._

"_Hi." Rory said, wide-eyed as the stranger approached._

"_Have they asked you about Tristan yet?" He asked bluntly, not bothering with pleasantries._

"_No sir. I just wrote down what happened to me." She answered honestly._

"_I don't want you to answer them if they do. Understand?" He said, a little more gently, once he noticed her distress. She nodded as he walked over to the room where she knew they were holding Tristan._

"_Here you go." The detective from earlier said, setting the cup of coffee in front of Rory. "Now I need you to tell me what happened with Mr. DuGrey." Rory looked over at the lawyer who was talking to Tristan._

"_My lawyer said not to talk about that." She said easily._

_Soon after, the D.A. announced that no charges would be brought against Tristan. He walked out of the room and straight into Rory's arms. _

"_Everything is going to be fine Rory." He said soothingly as her felt her hold on him tighten, afraid to let him go, in fear of him disappearing. As soon as he said it, he felt her body relax. She believed him. She was safe. After all that had happened tonight and all he'd done for her, being in his arms, just felt right._

"_I love you." She said softly as she looked into his eyes. He smiled._

"_I love you too." He said simply and placed a kiss on her forehead._

_End Flashback_

"Ever since then we have been together. Even when I was at St. John's College and he was at the Naval Academy,"

"Did you talk to anyone about what happened that night?" She looked down at the tissues in her hands.

"No."

"Why?"

"I was too ashamed I guess. Tristan told me to stay away from Derek; that something happened before with him but we had gotten into a fight and I was going to show him that I was going to do what ever I wanted to."

"What was the fight about?"

"He missed our Friday night movie and the book store sale because he and his friends pulled a prank on the substitute teacher and were restricted to their quarters for the weekend. Then I got a bad grade on a test." He was writing as she dried her eyes.

"Did you ever hear about what happened to the two men?"

"Derek was put in jail for five years. His friend died on the way to the hospital. When Tristan tackled him, he fell onto glass. The glass hit his lung, and when Tristan kicked him it went further inside of him" They went on talking about that night and for the first time since it happened, Rory felt like she could move on.

"Did you ask your husband?"

"Yea he told me everything."

"What happened that night?"

She told him about Tristan going to her house, punching Dean and coming back to the pool house.

"I feel better knowing what happened that night."

"Now when you go home this week I want you to call Luke and ask about your mom."

Rory took a deep breath and said, "Okay I'll try."

"I will see you next week, same time." He shook Rory's hand as she walked out of his office

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. I'm sorry it took so long for the update a problem came up. Next chapter Rory calls Luke and finds out what happen the night after she left with Tristan. Lorelai will be back in this chapter. Once again sorry about the wait and thank you for reading and leaving the great reviews. 


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better.

* * *

Walking inside her home, she saw Tristan was on the couch sleeping, after getting home he would mostly sleep for the better part of a week. She walked into the bedroom and turned on the computer. She was just about finished grading the papers from her class, when she heard him walking down the hallway. He rubbed his eyes, as he came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"When did you get home?" He said, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Just a few minutes ago." She leaned her head back and he kissed her.

"How did it go?" He asked as he made his way to the bed.

"We talked about that night. We also talked about you going to get my things." She answered, as she went back to grading her papers. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. After a moment he shifted to look at her.

"What you're doing is really great Rory. The hatred and guilt was killing you inside." She turned around and saw the concerned look in his eyes.

"I know." She answered, giving him a small smile, then turned around and continued working. When she was done, she turned off the desk lamp and saw he was sleeping again. She gently pulled the blanket out from under him and covered him with it. She ran her hand over his very short hair, and down his cheek before leaning down and lightly kissing him.

* * *

Tristan rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he saw that Rory was no longer working. He walked out to the living room and saw her curled up with a blanket she had made when they moved here, watching a movie, while eating pizza.

"Is that peanut butter and jelly?" He asked, eyeing the food warily. She nodded and held up a slice to him. "Sorry I like plain cheese." He deadpanned, shaking his head at his wife's strange cravings.

"Have you called your mom yet?" She asked.

"She is going to want to now if we are coming up for Thanksgiving. Then I will have to say 'No, we are going to Larry's house.'" He recited.

"Tristan we never go to Larry's house to eat." She said, looking at him quizzically.

"_She_ doesn't know that." He smirked. The phone rang as he sat down beside Rory. He reached out for the phone and answered. "Hello."

"Tristan." The familiar voice said over the line. He looked over at Rory who had gone back to watching her movie.

"I'm going to take this in the bedroom." She waved her hand as he silently made his way down the hallway.

"Are you still there?" The voice said, breaking through the silence.

"Why are you calling here?" He hissed into the receiver.

"Is she alright?" The caller asked.

"Why do you care if she's alright or not?" He asked tightly, trying not to yell so as not to alert Rory.

"She's still my daughter." Lorelai said, trying to sound strong.

"Well, _mom_." He said sarcastically. "You're daughter is getting help for what you put her through! How the hell did you get this number?" He seethed, trying to reign in his temper at Lorelai's audacity.

"Luke's phone." She mumbled.

"Listen to me Lorelai, _never_ call here again. If she wants to talk to you then she will call you." He hung the phone up and walked back out to the living room.

* * *

Tears ran down her cheeks as she hung up the phone. It has been six years since she saw her little girl. She missed her everyday. She heard the front door open and a little girl walked into the kitchen.

"Mommy, guess what?" The little girl said excitedly. Lorelai ran her hand over her eyes.

"What?" She asked, trying to gain control of her emotions.

"I got an A on my test!" She handed the test over to her mom.

"That's great Amy." Lorelai gushed.

"Why are you crying?" Amy asked, noticing her mom's red eyes.

"It's nothing. You want to go to the diner?" She asked, quickly changing the subject. The little girl nodded and ran into her room.

* * *

Tristan walked back out and saw Rory was looking at him. He just sat down and grabbed a piece of pizza minus the peanut butter.

"Who was on the phone?" She asked, noticing his stiff demeanor.

"It was just my commander." Was it wrong to lie to her? Probably. Would she be pissed about it if she found out? Definitely.

"Anything I should worry about?" She said, giving him a concerned look.

"Nope I'm still all yours." He said, relaxing, as he noticed the worried look in her eyes. She moved so she was now sitting on his lap.

"Well I'm glad you're still all _mine_." She leaned down, but as he leaned up, she pulled back quickly, flashing him a mischievous smile.

"You're killing me here, Rory." He groaned at her teasing. She kissed the side of his mouth, then his jaw and chin. He ran his hands up the back of her shirt and around to her bulging stomach. She laughed some as he kissed her neck.

"Let's go to the bedroom, and you can show me that you're all mine." She said suggestively. He quickly got up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

* * *

"Luke coffee!" Lorelai called out. She was still upset about the phone call as she walked into the diner.

"Lorelai what's wrong?" Luke asked, immediately noting her distress.

"Don't get mad at me, but I got Rory's number off your phone." She answered meekly, unable to look him in the eye. Luke was shocked, and quickly pulled her upstairs to the apartment.

"She trusted me and you go and break that trust!" Luke yelled clearly upset about what she did.

"You should've told me she called you!" She countered, just as upset with the situation.

"She didn't want to talk to you." He said, trying to calm down.

"I made a mistake Luke just one mistake." She complained.

"What ever helps you sleep at night Lorelai!" He scoffed at her denial.

"What does that mean?" She said, not used to his current attitude towards her.

"Is that what you say to yourself every night when you are going to sleep? You broke her Lorelai, you lost her trust! You did all of this to yourself. So don't stand up here and yell at me for what you did to her!" He yelled, unable to control his anger any longer.

"Is she alright?" Lorelai she whispered. Luke took a deep breath as he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Not really, but she's getting there. She changed her name to Leigh." Lorelai's mouth fell open. She never thought that Rory would do something like that. "She got her degree from St. John's College in Annapolis. She's now a teacher at Salem High School, where she teaches honors English to grades 9 and 10." He also knew that she was pregnant, but he felt that wasn't his story to tell.

"Is she married to Tristan?" She asked in awe.

"Yea, they married right before he enlisted in the Navy SEALs. They have a house outside of Little Creek where Tristan is based." Luke sat down at the table and took his hat off.

"Where did they get married? Who was there for them?" She couldn't believe that Rory was married and didn't tell her.

"You remember when the diner was closed?" She nodded and looked over at Luke realizing what that meant. She walked over and smacked him in the face.

"You knew and didn't tell me?" She yelled in outrage. She tried to slap him again, but Luke caught her hand.

"She asked me not to tell you, her father was even there for her, and her sister." He explained calmly.

"She called Chris?" She asked in surprise. She never thought she'd call Chris over her.

"She wanted at least one parent to be at her wedding." He said, shrugging his shoulders. Lorelai broke down crying and Luke just backed away from her.

"They were married on the beach as the sun was setting." He said to her before walking back downstairs.

* * *

"Hello." Luke answered, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Luke it's me I need to talk to you." Tristan said in a hushed voice.

"Is Rory alright, what about the baby? He asked in concern as he sat up in bed.

"Yea everyone is alright. Lorelai called today and I didn't tell Rory. So the next time you talk to her please don't say anything about the call" Tristan begged.

"How did you know I knew?" Luke asked evasively.

"Who else would Lorelai tell?" Tristan scoffed.

"Okay." Luke agreed.

"I need to get back to bed before she wakes up. Talk to you later Luke." Tristan said gratefully.

"Take care of her Tristan."

"I always do." Tristan said honestly. He sat the phone down and saw Rory was walking towards him.

"Why did you call Luke?" She asked curiously.

"I forgot to call and tell him I was home, so he would stop worrying about you." He touched her nose and she smiled at him.

"Let's get back to bed." She took his hand as she walked backwards, pulling him towards their bedroom.

"I really like you being pregnant." He leered, giving her a mischievous smirk. She smiled and slipped her hands into the waistband of his boxers.

* * *

Rory walked inside the dark house. She had to stay over for conferences after school. She really didn't want this job at first, but now she wouldn't leave it for any other job. Tristan should be home at anytime. He was hanging out with Larry and some of his friends. She looked over at the phone and knew the time was right to call Luke.

"Luke's."

"It's Rory can we talk?" Luke looked over to where Lorelai and her family were sitting.

"Yea let me walk upstairs." Lorelai's head shot up to Luke as he carried the phone upstairs. He closed and locked the door as he walked over to the couch. "Okay."

"I'm getting help with my issues and the doctor said I should talk to you about Lorelai. If you're okay with talking about Lorelai." She rambled quickly, barely taking a breath.

"Anything to help you Rory." He said sincerely.

"Okay." She took a deep breath before starting. "Is she married?"

"Yes." He answered carefully.

"Is it _him_?" She asked. Luke closed his eyes as he knew the answer would not only hurt Rory, but it hurt him as well.

"Yes. She married Dean after he turned eighteen." He said quietly.

"Do they have any kids?" She answered, trying to control her emotions.

"Yes. They have a daughter. She is six. She found out she was pregnant the day after his birthday."

"How did you take everything?" She asked in concern, finally hearing the hurt in his voice.

"I had to leave town for a few days to clear my head." He sighed.

"What happened after I left?"

_Flashback, (That night after Rory left)_

_Lorelai was pounding on the door to the diner. Luke turned the light on and walked over to the door._

"_Go away I'm not making you special coffee." He was walking back towards the stairs._

"_Rory's gone!" She called out. He stopped and walked back over to the door. Soon as the door opened, she threw her arms around his neck and cried._

"_What do you mean gone? Did you call the police?" He asked frantically._

"_She's leaving with Tristan. I really messed up this time." She cried._

"_What happened?" He asked, pulling away slightly, but still holding on to her._

"_You are going to hate me like she does. Hell the whole town is going to hate me." She began to ramble._

"_Lorelai I won't hate you."_

"_I had sex with Dean." Luke pushed her away and sat down on one of the stools._

"_You had sex with a seventeen year old boy, who happens to be dating your daughter?" He asked incredulously._

"_Rory was out with Tristan and Dean came over. We were just talking and watching a movie. I leaned over to get the popcorn and he kissed me. The next thing I know we're both naked and…" She trailed off._

"_Wow I can guess what happened next." He said sarcastically._

"_I screwed everything up and I just want to take everything back now. Help me Luke! He is going to take her to North Carolina." She said desperately._

"_Call the cops." He said tiredly._

"_He said he would tell everyone about us." She covered her face with her hands and cried some more. _

"_So what are you going to do?" Luke asked trying to push aside his anger, to comfort her._

"_Hope he takes care of her." She said shrugging her shoulders, fighting back more tears._

"_So how long have you and…" She looked up and saw the look on Luke's face. Not only had she ruined her daughter's life, but the look on his face told her she had ruined his life also._

"_This was the first time we had sex. We've been kissing and stuff for a few months now." He looked down at the floor._

"_She will come around Lorelai and one day she will be ready to forgive you." Lorelai nodded and walked downstairs and left the diner._

_End Flashback,_

"That was all she said that night." He heard her sniffle some.

"Why didn't everyone run them out of town? How did she explain the reason I was gone?"

"People were mad at first, but after everyone heard that she was pregnant no one really cared anymore. She said she sent you off to live with your father." He explained.

"I called dad that night when I got to my place." She said suddenly.

"Yea she called him also and begged him not to show up here and start a fight."

"Thank you Luke for everything. I love you."

"Love you too kid." He smiled before hanging up. He opened the door and saw Lorelai had her ear up to it. She looked up and just smiled, after a few months, her sense of humor seemed to return.

"I thought I heard termites in your door." She said as if it were a perfectly acceptable excuse.

"Downstairs, now!" He ordered.

"Was it her Luke?" She asked, her voice full of desperation.

"Yea it was." He walked passed her.

* * *

Tristan walked into the house and saw Rory was trying not to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and the tears soaked into his shirt.

"Shh…everything is going to be alright Rory. Have a little faith." She nodded and lifted her head up.

"Why would she do that to me?" She sobbed brokenly.

"That can be a question that you ask her when you see her." He answered, hating to see his wife so distressed.

"Will I do that to our child if I have a girl? Steal her boyfriend and make her run away?" She asked suddenly.

"First of all we don't know if we are having a girl. Second, I know how to kill a man with my bare hands." He said quite seriously.

"If we go back will you punch Dean for me again?" She asked in a tiny voice. He saw the little smile she had on her face and he laughed.

"I will punch anyone you ask me too." He said honestly as he kissed the top of her head.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter something happened to Tristan while he was at war and somemore flashbacks. Once again I want to thank everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. 


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks once again to **LoVe23 **for betaing the chapter_

* * *

Flashback, (Three months ago)_

_Everything was happening so fast around him. One minute they were coming out of the water, the next they were surrounded by gunfire. After the team took a defensive position, they started to return fire. The night was lit up from the firing of assault rifles. Tristan saw something moving from the bushes, out of the corner of his eye. Turning to his right he opened fire, not thinking twice._

_Once silence rang through the night air, the team of ten walked over to where the fight started. Tristan walked over to the bushes and what he saw caused him to immediately look down and close his eyes._

_End Flashback,_

He shot up in bed, covered in sweat and breathing hard. This was the first time he had thought about what happened that night. Breathing heavily he walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and slid his hands down his face. He looked back into the mirror and saw Rory was standing by the door.

"Sorry I woke you up." She took a towel getting it damp before wiping his back off.

"You want to talk about it?" He looked down at the sink and shook his head no.

"Just something that happened on the last mission, nothing for you to worry about." She frowned.

"You sure?" He kissed her forehead and took the towel from her.

"Yea go back to bed. I'm going to get some milk." She walked back into the bedroom and lay down. This was the first time she had seen him like this and it was a little scary for her to see him so vulnerable.

* * *

Tristan was sitting at home trying to get the image out of his head from last night. After it happened in the field, he never thought about it again. At the time, he knew he had to move on. Now he was thinking about that night thinking what he could've done different, but he knew there was nothing he could do different. He walked over to the fridge and grabbed the left over Chinese food. He smiled inside and threw the container onto the counter.

_Flashback, (Summer before college)_

_Walking out of the bedroom wearing only his boxers he walked over to the fridge. Tonight was the first time since the almost attack that they had slept together. He saw ten boxes of take out sitting on the top shelf. Grabbing a box, he sat down on a stool as she walked out from the bedroom._

"_You have this thing called a stove. It is used to make food. It will save you money on getting take out every night." He said teasingly._

"_Smell that before you eat it." She said, ignoring his comment. He opened it and then dropped it coughing._

"_How long has that been in there?" He asked, trying not to choke._

"_Anytime from last night, to two weeks ago." She said with a shrug, as she put a container in front of him. He smelled it before starting to eat._

"_How is your money situation?" He asked suddenly._

"_I have a job Tristan." She said tiredly._

"_Yea you work ten hours a week. How are you on money?" He pressed._

"_I'm fine Tristan. How do you think she is doing?" She asked wistfully, trying to change the subject._

"_Probably horrible right now, but she is the one who did this." He said simply._

"_Should I call her?" She asked with a small voice._

"_Do you want to?" She moved over to his side and put her head on his shoulder. "Mary, you do know that sometime in the future you are going to have to talk about this." He said seriously._

"_Who am I going to talk to Tristan, you?" She scoffed._

"_If you want to yea. Every day that you keep everything inside it will eat you alive!" He said, looking her in the eye._

"_I'm fine Tristan." She said, trying to get him to drop the subject._

"_One day you might believe that." He said sarcastically._

"_Get out!" She hissed. He walked into the bedroom and got dressed._

"_When you need me you know my number." He said calmly as he walked out of the apartment._

_An hour later she opened the door and fell into his arms as they walked inside of the apartment. He walked them back inside and closed the door. No matter what she said or did to him he would always be here for her._

"_Why do you stay with me?" She asked sobbing into his chest._

"_Its called being completely in love with you, no matter what you say or do I'll always come back to you." He whispered, against her forehead._

"_I just think about that night over and over and I want to forgive her…I do, but then all the hurt comes back and I just can't." She said, as she continued to hold onto him, as if afraid he would leave._

"_Rory one day you will let go of all the anger inside of you." He said, tightening his hold on her, letting her know he wasn't going anywhere._

"_I mean when I think about us, it was the best thing to ever happen to me, and then I go home where I should feel safe and it just tore me apart." She cried._

"_You're safe with me Mary. Nothing will ever happen to you again." He kissed the top of her head as she nodded into his chest._

_End Flashback_

She walked inside and saw him smelling the food. He threw it in the garbage and looked back inside the fridge.

"I'm thinking about going back to Stars Hollow." She announced. He closed the door and turned to look at her.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked, making his way to her.

"Not really." She sat down on the couch.

"Why don't we wait a few days and see what happens. If you still want to go back I will call my mom and tell her I'm coming home for Thanksgiving." She nodded as he sat down beside her.

* * *

Lorelai stared at the phone. She wanted to call. She wanted to know what was wrong with Rory, to scream at her, to apologize to her, to say she was sorry for falling for her boyfriend.

"Lorelai are you all right?" She looked over and saw Dean had walked into the bedroom.

"Yea, is Amy asleep?" She said giving him a small smile.

"Yea after I read to her she was out like a light." He smiled, thinking about their daughter.

"How much guilt do you feel about what we did to Rory?" She asked suddenly. He looked shot for a second, cause the subject never seemed to be brought up in this house.

"Too much." He replied honestly.

"She is married to Tristan and they live in Virginia. She teaches English and he is a Navy SEAL." She explained.

"How do you know all of this?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

"Luke talks to her sometimes and he told me. She called him the other day, when I walked upstairs he was talking to her." He put his arm around her as she cried. "She got married on the beach and didn't even call and tell me. She called Chris and he went with Gigi. My own daughters wedding and she didn't even tell me about it!"

"She will come around Lorelai." He said trying to calm her down. She moved away from him walked over to the dresser and looked at the picture she had of her and Rory.

"It's been six years Dean and she still hasn't come around yet. She even changed her name." She said sadly.

"What do you want me to say Lorelai?" He asked a little irritated.

"Tell me that everything is going to be okay. Tell me that deep down she still loves me. Tell me that _you_ still love me!" She yelled, then broke into another fit of sobs. His heart broke at the sight of his wife in tears. He walked over to her and pulled her against his chest as she cried.

"I do love you Lorelai, more then anything, but the other stuff only time will tell." He said honestly.

* * *

Tristan walked into the chapel and sat down. The priest walked over and sat down beside him. The last time he was here it was to catch up with an old friend.

"What's brothering you son?" He looked over at the priest.

"During my last mission we got caught in a fire fight. Over in the bushes beside us I saw something moving. I fired and the moving stopped, after everything was over, we went to check on everything. When I went over to the bushes I saw a little girl was there, she holding on to a teddy bear." He ran his hand over his face. "I didn't think about it at all until last night it's just…I had a nightmare about it. The thing is father I don't feel guilty about doing what I did." He said, looking up at the priest again.

"Son we all make mistakes in our life. Some of them small, some of them huge, but we move on from them and learn from them. What you did, it was a mistake, but we have to move on. You are a good soldier, a good friend, and a good husband. Tristan you have a good soul, what happened to you that night was a mistake. You never intended to kill a little girl, but you did and nothing will change that. I think the reason you don't feel guilt is because you know you did the right thing at that time. If that was a man with a gun and you didn't fire into the bushes when you did, then you and your friends would've been killed that night. You did what you were trained to do. God will forgive you if you ask for it." The priest said comfortingly.

"I do want forgiveness father for her and her family." Tristan replied honestly.

"Then you will have it Tristan." The priest said with a small smile.

"I guess that I just needed someone else to tell me all of this. Thank you father." Tristan shook his hand and left.

_Flashback, (Two Weeks Ago)_

_Rory walked into the chapel and looked around. She saw the priest was sweeping the floor. He turned around and saw Rory looking at him._

"_May I help you?" He asked._

"_I need someone to talk to." They sat down beside each other._

"_What can I help you with Mrs…."_

"_DuGrey, Rory DuGrey."_

"_Tristan's wife?" _

"_Yea you know him?" She asked in surprise. He nodded._

"_We went to school together. What can I help you with Mrs. DuGrey?" He asked with a smile._

"_Six years ago I left home with Tristan after seeing something at home. My mom and my boyfriend at the time were…" She looked at him hoping she didn't have to say anything._

"_I think I understand. Go on." He said giving her a sympathetic look._

"_Since that day I have had this hatred towards the both of them. I'm scared that when I become a mother that I might take it out on my child and I don't want that to happen." She said sadly._

"_I don't know how much help I can be here, but I can tell you that you are not your mother. I know most people don't want to hear this, but you might need professional help. I know this doctor who helped out a few friends of mine." He wrote down the address and handed it to her. "When you are ready to forgive her and your ex boyfriend, that is when I can help you. Tell Tristan I said hello." He said smiling down at her._

"_Thank you, father!" She said, returning his smile._

_End Flashback,

* * *

_

"Rory, how are you doing today?" She just looked over at the doctor and sat down. He could tell she was mad about something. "Alright where would you like to start today?"

"I can't believe him!" She ranted.

"Who are you talking about?" The doctor asked calmly.

"Tristan, he gets up when ever he wants to and knowing I have to shower and get ready for school, what does he do. He gets in the shower before me, and then he tells me to join him, and if I were to do that then I wouldn't get to the school until lunch!" She looked up at the doctor and covered her mouth. All the anger she had was now replaced with embarrassment.

"Why don't you take a few minutes for yourself." He said once again in a calm manner, smiling on the inside. Just like that she was angry again.

"We only have an hour and I'm going to take my whole hour. I know you don't care, but I'm paying damn good money for this hour. So you start acting like a doctor!" She said angrily.

"Okay Rory did you call Luke last week?" Her eyes were tearing up now and he handed her the box of tissues.

"Yea." She sniffled.

"What did he have to say?"

"That I have another sister. She married him and they have a six-year-old kid. That no one really cared about her and Dean. She told everyone I was living with my father in Boston. She had to beg my father to keep him from coming to Stars Hollow and getting into a huge fight about me, since it would blow her cover." She explained.

"You don't talk much about your father. Why?"

"He wasn't around that much when I was a kid. Every time I thought he was staying for good, he would just leave a few days later." She said a bit sadly.

"Has your relationship changed with him?"

"Yea we talk every Sunday morning and night. He comes and stays a few days with me when Tristan is away." She smiled remembering the last time he was here.

_Flashback, (Five months ago)_

_Rory was sitting on the couch looking at her stomach and rubbing it. She was showing just a little bit and didn't like it one bit. _

"_So my daughter done and got herself knocked up!" She heard Chris' voice imitating a southern drawl. When she turned, she saw him walking through the door._

"_Dad!" She walked over and hugged him. _

"_Hey kiddo. How are you holding up?" He asked, taking the time to look at her._

"_It sucks when he's gone. Where's my sister at?" She said pouting._

"_Has a cold so she is with her mother." They walked into the living room and sat down._

"_So how far along are you?"_

"_Twenty weeks. I'm due in February." She said, while unconsciously rubbing her belly._

"_So your mom called me asking if I knew where you were at." He said, not looking at her._

"_Her monthly call." She scoffed._

"_Yea but now it's more like every other month." _

"_Can we not talk about Lorelai please? Tell me about your job!" Father and daughter talked for hours, until Chris made her go to bed._

_End Flashback, _

"So my dad and I are as close as ever now." She said, feeling much better than when she'd originally arrived.

"How do you feel about the role reversals between your parents?"

"I'm glad I'm close to my dad now, but the way it happened…I wish it could've been better." She said shrugging.

"Well let's see here…only two more things on your list of four." The doctor said, studying his notebook.

"I don't think I'm ready for the last two yet doctor. Could I talk to someone else from Stars Hollow first?" She asked nervously.

"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to Rory. This isn't a set list. When you feel ready for the next step then we will move on." He said, giving her a genuine smile.

"Sorry about before… yelling at you, I mean." She said, blushing slightly. He chuckled at the sight.

"I have four children myself. I'm used to pregnant women yelling at me!" They both laughed at that and chatted a little more for the rest of the session.

* * *

"Tristan are you home?" She sat her bag on the table and took off her coat. Slipping her shoes off, she walked into the living room and didn't see him. Walking down the hallway, she stopped at the guest room and saw him putting together a crib. A changing table was already set up, as well as a bookcase. She gasped at the sight.

"Hey Mary!" He said, smiling at her.

"_Tristan_!" She said in a whisper. Her eyes began to well up with tears as he stood up.

"I didn't know what time you would be back. This was supposed to be a surprise. I'm sorry about the way I acted this morning." He walked over to her and hugged her.

"This is…_wow_." She kissed him.

"Why don't you go lie down while I finish this?" He said, kissing her on the head.

"Could I help?" He reached down and picked up the instructions and handed them to her as she smiled.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. I wanted to show the difference between Tristan and Dean. Tristan always says everything will be alright, but with Dean he just said that he didn't know. Next Chapter see how Emily and Richard reacts to the news of Rory leaving and what Luke done the day after Rory left. Once again thanks to everyone who read and reviwed chapter five. 


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks goes to as always **LoVe23** for making the chapter so much better._

* * *

_

_Flashback. (During senior year)_

_Tristan was sitting on the couch as Rory walked into her apartment. She was looking through her mail and she stopped at a letter. He looked back at her and saw her face. Thinking it was something from her mother he walked over and stood behind her._

"_It's from St. John's." She said plainly, staring at the envelope._

"_Are you sure you want to go there?" He asked softly. She turned around and looked at him._

"_They do a lot of reading. No one is ahead of me in the classes and they were really nice when we walked around campus." She said shrugging._

"_Okay… are you going to open it?" He asked. She looked at him, back at the envelope, then handed it to him. He gave her a reassuring look before tearing into the envelope. _

"_Dear Ms. Gilmore we would like to thank you for applying to St. John's College." He paused momentarily, reading over the rest of the letter in silence, his face, never giving away what was in the letter. He then looked up and gave her a serious look. _

"_It seems to me…my very nervous girlfriend…that you got into the school." He just gave her a smile, and when she processed what he just said, she screamed and jumped into his arms._

"_I need to file for financial aid." She said wide-eyed, when she pulled back to look at him. He chuckled, tightening his hold on her._

"_Rory, my grandpa said he was going to take of you. Why don't we call him?" He said to reassure her._

_He went to the phone and began to dial a number._

"_DuGrey residence." Someone answered, when he handed her the phone._

"_Yes, Janlan DuGrey, please." She asked nervously._

"_Who may I say is calling?"_

"_Rory Gilmore." She looked over at Tristan who was looking at the brochures that the school had sent along with the letter._

"_Rory dear how are you today?" Janlan said warmly._

"_I got in." Was all she said._

"_That's great dear I know how much you wanted to get into the school. Just tell them to bill me and I will write them a check." He said, without hesitation._

"_Janlan you don't…" She began, but was cut off._

"_Rory I told you before I want to help you out." He said in a tone that bartered no argument._

"_I will pay everything back to you Janlan! I promise." She breathed out gratefully._

"_I know you will dear." He said chuckling at the happiness he could hear in her voice._

_Tristan got her attention to let her know to hang up. She smiled at him._

"_Tristan and I are going out. See you on Sunday." She said cheerily._

"_I'm proud of you dear." He said before hanging up. She sat the phone down and hugged Tristan again._

_Janlan looked to his left with a huge smile on his face._

"_She got in." Was all he said to the people sitting next to him._

"_Is she happy about it?" His friend asked excited about the good news._

"_Yes Richard she is very happy." Janlan said with a smile._

"_We'll write you a check when you get the bill." Emily said and Janlan nodded his head._

_End Flashback.

* * *

_

Luke was setting the chairs down as the sun was coming up. He looked out and saw Dean was walking to work. He was now part owner of Doosey's Market as Taylor now had a store in Hartford. His anger towards Dean had never left once he found out what he and Lorelai had done to Rory.

_Flashback. (Day after Rory left Stars Hollow)_

_Luke was still mad about what Lorelai had told him the night before. He was looking out the window, waiting for someone to walk past. The anger in his body was at a point where he thought his head was going to explode. He saw the man he was waiting for walking down the street. _

"_Dean!" Dean stopped and slowly turned around and saw Luke walking towards him. Luke noticed the black eye and the fat lip that Tristan had given him the night before. "How could you do that to her? She loved you and you go and sleep with Lorelai!" He yelled, unable to hold it in any longer._

"_Luke..." Dean trailed off, not knowing what to say. He began to back up as he noticed Luke walking closer._

"_She was like my own daughter." Luke was halfway across the street as Dean had backed himself into a wall._

"_Luke it wasn't supposed to be like this. We were going to tell her after I turned eighteen." Dean explained weakly knowing how lame it sounded._

"_You shouldn't have been doing anything in the first place! Lorelai was your girlfriend's mother! How could you do that to her? She was the nicest girl in this whole town and you go and break her heart!" Luke seethed with barely controlled rage._

_Before Dean could say anything else, Luke's fist hit him in the jaw sending him to the ground. _

"_Never set foot in my place again! If you do…" Luke raised his fist in the air again and Dean covered his face. He just scoffed and turned away in disgust, walking back to the diner, ignoring the onlookers. Everyone who had witnessed the confrontation couldn't believe what had just happened._

_End Flashback.

* * *

_

"Gilmore residence." A maid answered.

"Is Emily Gilmore there?" Rory asked.

"One moment please." She couldn't believe what she was doing. She knew it was crazy to call her grandmother.

"Hello." Emily said into the phone.

"Hi Grandma." The other end was quiet as Rory was playing with the string on her shirt.

"Rory is that you?" Emily said, after shaking off her shock.

"Yea it's me. I want to say how sorry I am for not calling you before today. I took everything that mom had done out on you guys…which I shouldn't have and I'm so sorry for that." Toward the end of her rant, her voice cracked.

"Is everything alright dear?" Emily asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Yea I have something to tell you." Rory paused, taking a breath to calm herself. "You're going to be a great-grandmother." She said smiling.

"You're…?" Emily answered in shock.

"Yea…six months. Are you getting the letters that I write you every month?" She might not have been ready to talk to them but she still didn't want to cut them off from her life.

"Yes Rory thanks for sending them to us. We miss you." Her grandmother answered. Now it was her voice that cracked.

"I miss you guys too." Rory sniffled.

"Do you want to talk to your grandfather?"

"Yea that would be nice." She heard another phone turn on.

"Rory?" Richard asked excitedly.

"Hi Grandpa how are you?" She asked unable to stop her smile.

"Wonderful now." Richard sighed as he leaned back into his office chair.

"How is work?" She asked.

"I've finally retired from work. How is your job?" He answered, happy to be talking to his grand-daughter.

"I love working with kids." She smiled. They continued to catch up for a few minutes when Tristan walked into the door covered in sweat. Rory just watched him as he got a bottle of water from the fridge. She licked her lips as he walked past her. "Hey Grandpa…Tristan just came home I need to get off and go eat." She said a bit hurriedly.

"We love you Rory." They both said happily into the phone.

"Love you guys too." She smiled before hanging up and throwing the phone on the couch. She quickly made her way to their bedroom. When she stepped in, she heard water was on and she smiled. She stepped into the shower and he turned around.

"What are you doing?" He said, noticing the look in her eye. She licked her lips as she watched the water trail down his chest, then flashed him a wicked smile.

"Eating." She kissed him and pushed him into the wall.

* * *

_Flashback. (A month after Rory left)_

"_What do you mean she left? You said she was living with Christopher." Emily looked over at Lorelai who was at dinner with her parents._

"_She took off with Tristan last month."_

"_I'm calling the cops he must've kidnapped her or something."_

"_Mom I was the reason she left."_

"_What do you mean you are the reason?"_

"_I stole Dean from her." Emily smacked her daughter in the face. Lorelai's eyes got huge this was the first time that she had seen her mom this mad._

"_How could you do that to her. Will you ever just grow up Lorelai you're not a teenager doing what ever you want and not worrying about what happens to anyone else? You are an adult and need to act like one. Get out of my house and ever come back here again." Emily was pointing at the door as Richard walked into the room._

"_I didn't mean for this to happen I swear."_

"_What is she talking about?"_

"_Rory ran away after Lorelai stole her boyfriend."_

"_Lorelai is this true?" She nodded and looked down at the floor. "You need to leave this house at once Lorelai. You are no longer welcome here."_

"_I just wanted to tell you two that I'm pregnant with Dean's child and we're getting married." All three looked at each other._

"_This has to be one of the most irresponsible things you have ever done Lorelai but we don't want another grandchild who we don't see for years. We will put aside our anger towards you every time the child is here with you. If the child isn't with you then you are not welcome here and he is to never set foot into our home." She nodded and walked out of the door. Emily turned around and buried her face in Richard's chest._

_End Flashback.

* * *

_

After their hour-long shower Rory was drying off while Tristan watched her. She turned her head and looked at him.

"What made you decide to sleep with me back in Hartford?" He asked suddenly. She pulled on a pair of his boxers and his SEAL shirt then looked at him.

"I was caught up in the moment and let my heart lead the way. I wanted you that night more then anyone else." She replied honestly, looking him in the eye. He was now wearing sweat pants and she hugged him.

"If I remember that night it was you who was the aggressor. Why did you want to sleep with me?" He asked, pulling his head back slightly, while he closed his left eye and tilted his head.

"We always had this love hate thing going on. When I saw your bed unmade my mind just shut off, and I just did what I wanted to do. I didn't know if I'd ever see you again, and I knew I wanted you more than anything before that happened." She whispered, remembering how she felt that night. He sat back on the bed against the headboard, and pulled her close to him, not wanting to lose the intimacy they were sharing.

"If nothing else had happened that night, would you still be standing here, married to me and pregnant with my child?" He asked cautiously, afraid of her answer. She looked into his eyes, trying to figure out what brought this on, but she knew she had to be honest with him.

"I was so close to calling you after you left. I was going to go inside and cry, then talk to my mom about what I should do. So the answer is I don't know." She whispered, pulling him tight to her, and laying her head on his chest.

"Well for what it's worth I was still in town. I went to a bridge and was about to get out of my car when you called me." He said, rubbing her back, and placing a kiss to her temple.

"It means a lot to me." She was about to cry, as he wrapped both arms around her, whispering reassurances that they were together now and that's all that mattered.

"You want something to eat?" He asked, when her sobs subsided. She nodded and hugged him one more time before letting him go. "I'll make us some burgers." He said smiling.

"I want pickles, onions, and bacon on mine." She told him.

"With mustard, ketchup, and tomatoes." He recited, smiling at her knowingly. He kissed her forehead and walked out to the kitchen.

She walked out and smelled the bacon frying. She sat down at the table and watched him. After all these years being with him and living with him, this side of him still amazed her.

_Flashback. (Summer before college)_

_Tristan walked into the apartment with two paper bags. Rory watched him as he was putting things away._

"_What is all of this?" She asked, peeking into the bags after he'd set them down._

"_It's called food. You need to learn how to cook for yourself. and I'm going to help you." He said, glancing at her briefly before going back to what he was doing._

"_You know how to cook?" She said a bit skeptically, looking at him with a raised brow._

"_Yep. We have kitchen duty once a week. Although, not all of us have to do it." He said, shrugging as if it were no big deal._

"_Just the bad ones." She smirked. He gave her a bland look._

"_See when _you_ say it, it sounds bad." He opened a door and saw the pots and pans looked like new. _

"_Good! Now I have more room for my books." She said, noticing him taking out the pots and pans. He just rolled his eyes at her._

"_Did you even use these after I got them for you?" He asked, holding up a pot and a frying pan._

"_Me? Cook? I don't think so mister. These hands don't do any cooking." She said, holding up her hands, and wiggling her fingers. He shook his head and laughed at her antics.. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What are we cooking?"_

"_Bacon burgers. can you cut up the onions and tomatoes?" He asked, looking at her over his shoulder._

"_Sure can." She said happily. He handed her a knife and she started to cut them up._

"_Nice work Gilmore." He said appraisingly._

"_Thank you sir." She saluted him and he just laughed some more. "Is there a cooking class I could take?"_

"_Yea at night not far from here at the college." He said, looking over at her._

"_I think I'm going to learn how to cook." She said determinedly, as she continued to cut up the tomatoes._

_End Flashback._

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, noticing her dazed look.

"The first time you cooked for me." She smiled, looking up at him.

"Yea and since then I've been cooking this for you." He said smirking. She walked over and plugged in the fryer.

"What can I say I like bacon burgers and fries." She said haughtily.

"So have you thought any more about writing that letter to her?" He asked, not looking at her.

"I might start on it tomorrow." She said quietly.

"Really? That soon?" He said, looking up from what he was doing.

"Yea…I don't have to mail it out to her right away." Tristan nodded as he pulled the hamburger out of the fridge.

"So I called my mom and told her about us being married. She already knew cause grandfather told her. My dad is sick and he wants to see me in case this is our last holiday with him." Tristan said without emotion.

"Tristan I'm sorry." She said, looking at him with concern. He turned around and looked at her.

"I'm getting a flight first thing in the morning and I wanted to know if you were going with me?" He asked.

"Do you want me to go with you?" She asked, looking away. He walked over and sat down beside her.

"I would like it if you came with me, but if you don't want to, then I'm not going to make you, Rory." He said seriously. She reached over and took his hand.

"I'll go with you Tristan. You shouldn't have to go through this alone." She said looking into his eyes. "Who knows…maybe it'll force me to finally get this all over with her?" She said, giving him a weak smile. He kissed her before walking back over to the stove. "I'm just going to go pack. How long are we staying for?" She said, getting up.

"Well you don't have school this week so we'll fly back here Sunday." He said, after taking a minute to think about it. She walked into the bedroom and looked around. Pictures of them were all over the room. She saw the letter hanging on the wall from where he was accepted into the SEALs training.

_Flashback. (Senior year of college)_

_She stood outside of the school, waiting for Tristan. The only time they saw each other was on the weekends when he had liberty leave. She saw a man walking in full uniform and she took off running towards him. He put the bag down that was over his shoulder and picked her up as she kissed him. He was on watch last weekend so she didn't get to see him._

"_I missed you last week." She said as she played with the brim of his white hat._

"_I know what you mean." He said as he ran his hands up and down her arms._

"_Let's go get you checked in." She said, taking his hand, as they walked to the switchboard and the older women smiled at Tristan._

"_Nice to see you again, Tristan." He handed her his license._

"_You too, Edna." He said giving her a smile. As soon as he signed in, they made their way up to her dorm room. _

_She unlocked the door and pulled him inside the room. The door was locked and she sat his hat on the end table by the door. She wanted to tear his shirt off, but this was his uniform and she didn't want to get him in trouble._

"_You just had to wear this." She kissed his neck as began the long journey of unbuttoning his shirt._

"_I was on campus babe. I have to wear this." He said huskily, as she nipped at his jaw. She pulled the white shirt off his shoulders and kissed his chest. "Where is Kim?" He said, pulling his head back and looking around the room._

"_Library." She said in between kisses._

_She was still half on top of him, lying there with her eyes closed, as he ran his hands softly up and down her back._

"_I wanted to talk to you about something." He said as he sat up. She sat up as well, and grabbed her robe to put it on. _

"_Is it good or bad?" She said, apprehensively._

"_I hope it's good." He grabbed his boxers and pulled them on before walking over to his bag. He pulled out a letter and handed it to her. She pulled the paper out and jumped up into his arms._

"_You got in." She said excitedly._

"_Yea…I have to go to Colorado after school is out." _

"_And that is what you wanted to talk about?" She asked. He took the letter from her and put it away._

"_I was thinking since I have to be there for six months maybe you wanted to come with me?" He asked, grimacing at her reaction._

"_Tristan." She said hesitantly._

"_Just think about please?" He begged._

"_I will." She answered honestly._

_End Flashback.

* * *

_

She woke up and like every morning, the bed was empty. Tristan always went out for runs…an old habit that he never broke from his days in school. She looked down at her stomach and sighed. The baby was active this morning and all night. The front door opened and Tristan came walking into the bedroom. He leaned down and kissed her, then put his hand on her stomach.

"You were up most of the night." He said softly.

"Yea between the baby and thinking about today." She said, thoughtfully, as she lay her hand on top of his.

"You don't have to see her Rory. Just stay at my parent's house." He said, sitting down next to her on the bed.

"I want to see Lane. I called her when you went out last night and told her I would come visit her." She explained.

"She can come and visit you in Hartford. Are you going to call Emily?"

"Yea on our way to the airport." She nodded.

"Do you want to shower first?"

"No, I'm fine. You go ahead. You stink." She said crinkling up her nose. He laughed, and placed a kiss on her nose before getting up and heading toward the bathroom.

* * *

After the plane landed, they walked outside to find a driver waiting for them. Tristan handed him a bag and they walked to the car. Janlan was waiting for them by the door and he hugged both Tristan and Rory.

"How does it feel being home?" He asked, the young couple.

"Weird." Tristan said as Rory nodded.

"We'll drop you off at the house and then you can come to the hospital and see your father when you want to. Rory dear, your grandmother called and wanted to know if she could have the two of you over for dinner before you go home." Janlan asked, directing his question to Rory.

"Yea that's fine with me." She shrugged, giving him a smile.

Tristan walked into the hospital room and saw his father hooked up to machines. His grip on Rory's hand tightened as he walked over to the bed.

"Tristan." His dad called out weakly.

"Yea dad it's me. This is my wife Rory." Tristan answered, pulling Rory to the front. His father reached his hand out and she shook it.

"Hello sir." She said formally.

"Are you…?" He pointed to her stomach and she smiled.

"Yea." The door opened and his mother walked into the room. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"Tristan." She sighed, and hugged him as he closed his eyes.

"Mom this is Rory, my wife." She turned around and saw the stomach.

"I'm going to be a grandmother?" She asked in awe.

"That's what the doctor told me. Someone is growing inside of me." Rory stated proudly. His mom laughed and sat down beside his father.

"What do the two of you do for a living?" Mrs. Dugray asked.

"Grandpa never told you guys?" They both shook their heads no. "Rory is a school teacher and I'm in the military." He pulled out his tags and both parents couldn't believe it. The rest of the day was spent catching up and filling in his parents on what had happened after they left Hartford.

* * *

_Flashback. (Six months ago)_

_Luke was just headed into Rory and Tristan's house when he ran into a woman who was carrying a covered plate._

"_I'm sorry are you alright?" He asked, holding the woman steady._

"_Yea I'm fine." She said pushing the hair out of her face._

"_Luke Danes. I'm a friend of Rory's from her home town." He reached his hand out to the woman and she smiled at him._

"_Carol McCoy. Tristan served with my late husband." She replied shaking his hand._

"_I'm sorry for your loss." They were still shaking hands and were looking into each others eyes._

"_Enough already just kiss and get it over with." They both looked over at Rory who grabbed the plate from Carol. "My chicken is getting cold with the two of you out here." They both let go of the other's hands quickly, and blushed._

_They followed Rory back into her place and she put on some coffee for them. Luke walked around the living room and saw pictures of a man in uniform standing beside Tristan._

"_That was Tony before he shipped out. It's the last picture that I got to take of him." Carol said, noticing the picture he was looking at._

"_What happened?" He asked, looking at her._

"_They were on a mission when they were caught by enemy fire. He was hit in the leg and then the chest. Tristan was the one who went back for him and carried him to the medic station, but it was to late. The bullet hit him right in the chest and made it half way through the armor." She said sadly._

"_Is that how you got close with Rory?" He asked, softly._

"_We're SEAL wives we support each other." She said simply. He saw a picture of Tristan handing her a flag and Rory sitting behind her. The flag was sitting on the mantle under a glass case._

"_When did this happen?" _

"_A few days before they were to come home." She said softly, remembering the call she got._

"_The mission before this last one?" She nodded and walked back into the kitchen._

"_He was going to retire and teach at the Academy. Do you want anything to drink?" She called back._

"_Water is good." They talked for a few more hours. They were both trying to get over broken hearts. _

_End Flashback. _

Lorelai walked into Luke's and saw him talking to a woman. Luke hadn't dated anyone for a long time. She sat down at the counter and Luke never looked at her. Lane walked over and poured her a cup of coffee.

"Don't worry about it he has been like this since she got here." Lane said, tilting her head in the direction of the stranger.

"Who is she?" Lorelai asked, looking at how close the two seemed.

"Carol something. She lives in Virginia I think." Light bulb when off in Lorelai's head that was where Luke said Rory lived.

"Thanks Lane." Lane walked away as Lorelai continued to watch the couple. Luke reached his hand out and put it on top of the woman's hand.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter is a filler chapter with Tristan and Rory catching up with Paris and the Chilton gang. Once again thanks goes out to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. 


	8. Chapter 8

As always thanks goes out to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better._

* * *

_

_(Flashback the day after Rory left)_

"_Hello." The worried voice said over the phone._

"_It's me Lane." Rory sighed._

"_Where are you I've been waiting for an hour now?" Lane yelled. Rory looked out the window of the plane._

"_I'm on my way to North Carolina." Rory explained in a tired voice._

"_What?" Lane said, sounding very confused. "What're you going there for?" Rory went on to tell Lane what had happened between her and Lorelai and how Tristan was the only one she could trust._

"_I'm going to miss you." Lane said, knowing there was nothing she could say to get Rory to change her mind._

"_I'll write to you after I get settled into my new place." Rory promised._

"_How should I act towards her?" Lane asked suddenly. Rory felt Tristan move in his seat and his hand brushed her leg._

"_You can act anyway you want to Lane. This is between Lorelai and me." She said in a sad voice._

"_I think that I'm going to give her the silent treatment first. Then come on strong with the guilt." Lane said determinedly._

"_Sounds great to me." Rory said with a small smile. This was why Lane was her best friend._

"_My mom's pointing at the watch. I need to go." Lane said as she saw her mom signal her to get off the phone._

"_I'll write to you in a few days." Rory closed the phone and held it out to Tristan. He pulled another phone out of his pocket._

_(End flashback)_

Rory was sitting in Tristan's old room looking at pictures of him as a child. Tristan's mom had found them in the attic. She felt the bed shift as Tristan sat down beside her.

"Baby pictures." He said, looking at the book in her hand.

"Yep your mom just dropped them off to me, before going to the hospital. I never knew you played football." She said, not taking her eyes off of the pictures.

"Yea until I got hurt and mom got all worried about me not being able to walk when I got older." He scoffed.

"And look at you now, going off to wars, getting shot at." She said in a sarcastic tone. It was no secret that Rory hated that Tristan was in the military. She had told him every time that he had to leave.

_(Flashback, Six months ago)_

_Rory was looking at the stick in her hand. They had never talked about having children. Not after what happened with her mother and with him being in the Navy. The timer binged and she opened her eyes, and saw it was positive. Not knowing how she should react, she just dropped the stick and looked at herself in the mirror. _

"_Doctor." She mumbled and walked out of the bathroom. _

_She looked down at the list of doctors the government would pay for and made an appointment with them for the next day. She looked over at the clock and saw it was about time for Tristan to come home from training. She turned on the news and saw the pictures of what no military wife wants to see…war. _

"_Today the United States government has ordered troops to be on stand by. The violence has carried over to the remote jungle area…," The news anchor reported. _

_Rory knew that this meant that Tristan was now on alert. This was the second time that he had been called out to duty. The first time lasted a whole year. She heard the door opening and saw his face._

"_Tristan…" She said. He closed his eyes and she knew what happened._

"_I got my orders I leave tomorrow afternoon." He whispered. The tears came running down her face as he hugged her._

"_Why now? Everything was going so great for us." She sobbed._

"_I know Rory. I need to pack my bag." He said, rubbing her back. She nodded and he walked down the hallway._

"_Rory…" He called out hesitantly, a few minutes later. She dried her eyes and walked into the bedroom. She saw him holding the test looking at her._

"_I took it this afternoon. I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon." She said, her voice showing no emotion._

"_If you're pregnant I don't want to leave you." He said, looking torn._

"_You have to though." She snapped. The tears were now replaced by anger and frustration. "Why couldn't you just work for your grandfather like all the other rich kids?" She yelled. _

_He threw the test back into the trash can and looked at her with wide eyes._

"_Rory…" He said, trying not to let her words hurt or anger him, knowing she was just emotional right now._

"_No Tristan!" She yelled in frustration. "He offered you everything, just so you would work for him, and you turned him down!"_

"_I have to serve two years in the Navy." He said plainly._

"_I know, but you didn't have to sign up for the SEALs!" She yelled at him._

"_I told you six years ago that it was what I was going to do! What I _wanted_ to do!" He yelled back at her, no longer able to contain his own anger and frustration... _

"_Yea and I didn't believe you either. You could've taken a normal post on some big boat, not going out there and getting shot at. I won't survive without you, Tristan. You mean everything to me and if something were to happen..." She trailed off unable to continue as the tears came back and her whole body was shacking. _

_Tristan sighed, hating seeing her like this and now, knowing he was going to be a father was all too much. _

"_Rory you know that this happens and I can't do anything about it. I love you and if I could get out of this, I would just to be with you. This right here is all that I've ever wanted." He said softly as he placed his hands on her stomach and she looked up at him. "A family that I could call my own."_

"_Promise me that you will be careful, that you won't try to be a hero." She hugged him and cried on his shoulder._

"_I promise you Rory, I will come back home. Nothing will keep me from you and our child." He said hugging her tightly._

"_You always keep your promises." She whispered._

_Tristan was waiting like all the other men for their wives or girlfriends. Rory had a doctor's appointment, but she should've been here by now. He saw someone running towards him and he went after her. Meeting half way he picked her up in a hug._

"_What did the doctor say?" He asked, excitedly._

"_You're going to be a daddy." She said, unable to contain her smile. He swung her around as she laughed._

"_I can't believe it!" He said in awe, as he kissed the tip of her nose._

"_Troops line up." One of the officers called out. She tightened her grip around his neck._

"_You have two people now who need you more than ever to come home, Tristan." She said seriously. He wiped her cheek and gave her a light kiss on the lips._

"_I promise you everything is going to be okay Mary." He said giving her his trademark smirk._

"_Is the will in the same place?" He asked. Even though she didn't want to think about it, she still answered him._

"_Yea I never touched it." She said quickly._

"_Last call." He said as he kissed her again._

"_I love you Tristan, please be careful." She called out to him._

"_I love you too, and I will." He yelled back. She saw him walk over to the bus and picked up his gear. He sat down by the window and looked at her. She gave him a small wave, as he put his forehead on the glass._

_She walked into the house and collapsed on the couch crying. Reaching over to the phone, she dialed a number._

"_Luke's." the familiar voice answered. _

"_Luke he was called out." She said unable to hold back her sobs._

"_I'll be there in a few days, call your father and let him know." Luke came the first time he was called out and stayed with her for a week._

"_I'm pregnant." She was crying harder now into the phone._

"_I'll be there tomorrow afternoon." Luke amended._

"_Thank you." She called her dad and they talked for an hour _

_The next day, (Stars Hollow)_

_Lorelai was walking towards the diner the next morning and saw that Luke was walking down the steps carrying a suitcase. He had hung the sign on the door about being closed for the next few days. He stepped out and almost ran into her._

"_Where you going?" She asked getting straight to the point._

"_I'm leaving town for a week." He said simply, as he walked past her and opened the door to his truck._

"_Where are you going?" She asked, as she followed closely behind him. He just looked at her and her eyes got huge._

"_Is this about…?" She trailed off._

"_I have to get going. I'll reopen in a week." He said, not giving anything away._

"_Luke… tell me please!" She asked, in a desperate voice. He started up the truck. "Is she hurt?"_

"_No." That was all he would say before he took off leaving Lorelai looking down the road._

_(End Flashback)_

"We have to take baby pictures so we can embarrass our child." Rory said, smiling as she looked through more pictures.

"I think Carol will be way ahead of you on that Rory." Tristan chuckled.

"Yea she already bought a new camera with a laser printer." She laughed. Tristan was rubbing her back as she closed her eyes.

Tristan woke up in the middle of the night and saw Rory was looking out the window. He uncovered himself and grabbed the extra blanket and walked over to her. She turned her head when she felt something on her shoulders. He saw what she was looking at the pool house.

"That was where all of this started." She said, leaning back into his chest.

"Yea where your life kicked your ass." He scoffed.

"And where you got your Mary." She whispered.

"I have an idea. How about we get dressed and drive to Stars Hollow?" He said suddenly. She looked at him not sure, if she liked the idea.

"What would we want to do that for?" She asked suspiciously.

"So you can see the town, and at that time how many people will be out?" He said, giving her a knowing look.

"Let's do it." She said smiling. She walked over and pulled a pair of his sweat pants on, and grabbed her coat.

* * *

He looked over and saw her looking out the window. It looked to him, like she was trying to remember what everything looked like. She closed her eyes as he looked back at the road.

"Tristan." She asked softly.

"Yea." He answered back in the same tone.

"When did you start to like me?" She asked suddenly, her eyes still closed. He looked at her quickly not expecting her question.

"When we were rehearsing for the play." He answered.

"So not after the kiss?" She asked, finally opening her eyes to look at him.

"I still just wanted to get under your skirt and make you moan my name." He said smirking. She smiled, and smacked him playfully on the arm.

"What changed?" She asked, rubbing her hand on the arm she'd just hit.

"When you talked to me about being better than the people who I was hanging around with, that was the first time anyone tried to help me instead of threatening me with military school." He said seriously, shrugging his shoulders.

"If you never went away would we have even gotten together?" She asked, in a small voice, picking nervously at the material of the jacket he wore.

"That would've been up to you Rory." He said, glancing over at her, before looking back to the road ahead of him. She reached over and put her hand on his thigh.

"I think for me, it was when we said goodbye. It was the first time I liked being called Mary." She smiled. She saw the sign as Tristan started to slow down.

"You want to walk or drive?" He asked, looking at her.

"Let's walk." She said determinedly. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head as Tristan pulled over to park the car. Before getting out, he pulled on a Navy skullcap.

When they got out of the car, she walked over to him and took his hand and they started walking down the street. She had a smile on her face, which made him smile as well. They walked to the bridge and sat down.

"I missed this place." She said looking around her, trying to commit everything to memory.

"Another step towards you getting better." His arm was around her as she rubbed her cheek against his cold jacket. They heard footsteps and both of them looked over.

"Lane." She called out in surprise. Tristan helped Rory up as she walked over to her friend and hugged her. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." They just held onto each other as Tristan shoved his hands into his pockets.

"You remember Tristan right?" Rory moved away as Lane nodded. Tristan walked over and shook her hand, before Lane pulled him into a hug. Tristan was surprised at first, but quickly returned the hug.

"Where the hell have you been for six years?" Lane scolded playfully.

"It's too late to talk about that now, Tristan will come and pick you up tomorrow and we can talk." Rory said, happy to be able to see her best friend.

"Well why don't the two of you just come with me and Zach tomorrow. Zach and his friends play paint ball once a month and its tomorrow. Tristan you can play too." Lane said hopefully.

"Who the hell is Zach?" Rory asked, suddenly.

"My husband." Lane said as though it were common knowledge.

"I see. Well, looks like we _do_ have a lot to catch up on! But I don't think that Tristan should." Rory said, eyeing her husband.

"See you tomorrow Lane. I'll call for directions to the place." He said, shaking his head at his wife's antics. He reached into his pocket and wrote his number down for her.

"It's a field that Paris and Louise's husbands own." Lane explained.

"You're friends with them?" Rory asked, incredulously.

"Yep after you left I needed some new friends." Lane said shrugging. "I need to get back home! I will call you tomorrow morning." Lane waved as she walked away.

"I don't think that the other's have SEAL training." She said, as she turned towards Tristan who had a huge smile on his face.

"Tomorrow should be fun then!" He said smugly, as he wrapped his arm around her and they started walking again.

"I want to drive past Lorelai's house." She said suddenly.

"Anywhere you want to go Rory." Tristan said softly, placing a kiss on top of her head.

* * *

When they got back into the car, and started driving through town, Rory called out directions to him. They had passed Luke's and they were on their way to Lorelai's house. He parked down the street from the house, just close enough for her to see it. He looked at the clock saw that it was after three in the morning now and she yawned.

"You ready to head back now?" He asked. She pulled out an envelope and held it up to him. "You want me to put that in the mail box for you?"

"I would do it, but knowing me I might trip and wake everyone up." She said sleepily. He undid his seat belt and grabbed the letter from her hand.

Rory woke up the next morning when Tristan walked back into the bedroom. She rubbed her eyes as he sat down on the chair by the desk. He sat a bag down and was looking inside of it.

"What did you waste our money on now?" She asked, startling him. His body went rigid for a split second before he let his head fall and hit the desk. He was so busted.

"Some gear for today's little game." He said cryptically.

"They probably have everything you need." She said giving him a pointed look.

"I never go anywhere unprepared." He said returning her look.

"You used your old black card didn't you?" She said, raising her brow at him.

"I asked my mommy before I went out and she said it was okay." He said in a sarcastic tone. "Lane called my cell phone and I know the area where they meet."

"Who's going to be there?" She asked curiously.

"The three headed monster, some one named Stephanie and Olivia. For the guys you have Zach and some rich guys who like the rush of shooting at people." He said listing off the people Lane told him about, as he continued to look through his gear.

"If they only knew what you do honey." She said in a deceptively sweet voice. He stopped what he was doing and Rory looked at him.

"Yea." He said slowly.

"You want to tell me about it. I know something bad happened Tristan." She said, dropping the teasing tone.

"I killed someone." He said simply.

"That's not the first time you have." She said, pushing him to tell her more.

"It was a little girl hiding in the bushes." He said, his voice cracking. He took a deep breath. He still had his back to her as he continued. "We were under attack and I saw movement and not thinking twice I opened fire on the bush. After everything was over with, we started looking around and I saw her lying on the ground with four bullet holes in her chest. The worst part is that I didn't feel bad about it. Hell I didn't feel anything until I got home." He said angrily. She got out of bed and walked over to him. As soon as she reached him, he turned to her and looked up at her with sad eyes. She reached out to run her hand through his hair. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly to him as he laid his head on her stomach

"I'm so sorry Tristan." She whispered, her heart breaking for her husband.

"I talked to the Father at the chapel and he helped me out." He mumbled into her stomach.

"What time do we have to leave?" She asked.

"Not until noon. They have lunch and then go have fun. The ladies hang out and watch them which is something I didn't think Paris would do." Tristan explained.

"Seems like she might've changed. I'm going to get ready." She said, pulling away from him, giving him a smile.

"Why so soon?" He asked, frowning at the loss of her warmth.

"I'm not as quick at getting ready like I use to be Tristan. It takes me some time to get everything moving in the right direction." She said, giving him a knowing look.

* * *

When they pulled up everyone was already there and had just started eating. Lane ran over to Rory and hugged her again as did Louise and Madeline. Paris walked over holding a little boy's hand.

"Where did you go? Why did you leave with Tristan? What college did you go to? Why did you never call me once?" Paris began, as her formal greeting.

"North Carolina, he was the only one I trusted, I went to St. John's college in Annapolis, I'm sorry for not calling you." Rory returned as her greeting.

"I called your mom and she said you were living with your dad in Boston." Paris said, as she picked up the little boy who was just looking at Rory.

"That is a very long story and I will tell everyone about it later. Who is this little guy?" Rory said, looking at the little boy in Paris' hand.

"This is my son Matt." Paris said proudly.

"Which one is yours?" Rory said, tilting her chin in the direction of the men she didn't know.

"The blonde haired one, Logan Huntzberger. The one who is drinking, is Louise's man Finn. The other one is Colin who is married to Mads here." Paris said, identifying the men.

"And the other people I don't know?" Rory asked.

"Marty, John, Steve, Nathan, and Paul, the ladies are Stephanie and Olivia." They introduced Tristan and Rory to group of friends.

"So you're the runaway son and daughter that everyone talks about." Logan said as he looked at Tristan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tristan asked as Rory lowered her head.

"Come on, when a DuGrey and Gilmore run away with each other people are going to talk." Logan scoffed.

"Logan." Paris scolded. He looked over at Paris.

"What? I always wanted to meet _the_ Tristan DuGrey." Logan said smugly. Rory felt Tristan's hand tighten around hers.

"And _the_ Lorelai Gilmore the third." Logan reached his hand out but neither one shook it.

"Well here I am in all my glory." Tristan said tightly, as he looked him right in the eyes.

"So where do you work right now?" Logan said, trying to make small talk.

"I'm not working right now. I just came back from over seas a few weeks back." Tristan explained, not going into anymore detail.

"And what about you Rory?" Logan asked.

"I teach school in Virginia, Logan." Rory said politely.

"Where do you guys live?" He probed more, trying to get more info out of them.

"In Little Creek Virginia, that's near Norfolk." Tristan took a drink of water.

"So Tristan what do you think about me buying your grandfather out of the business that he started, and you were suppose to take over?" Logan asked acting smug again.

"Well granddad is getting too old to run the company and father is sick right now, and me?... Well since I don't know when my job is going to send me over seas. I really don't care." Tristan said, shrugging his shoulders. This Logan guy was starting to annoy him, but his expressions and body language didn't show it.

"If you ever fail at the job you have now, and you need a new one then just call me." Logan offered smirking.

"Sorry, but if I fail at my job then I won't be calling anyone." Tristan said seriously.

"Tristan." Rory whispered. He knew the subject matter would just upset Rory. He looked over and smiled at her.

"Have you ever been out shooting Tristan?" Logan asked, his voice sounding arrogant as ever. He was finally getting on Tristan's last nerve.

"Once or twice." Tristan answered vaguely.

"I think it's time for you guys to get out there." Paris said, sensing the rise in testosterone. She led the women up to the porch of the house they were staying at.

"So true Paris! Who's on teams." Logan said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

"How about we make it more interesting? Thousand dollars says I can take all of you guys." Tristan called out.

"No! You wouldn't be able to get our flag before we got yours!" Logan was laughing as he said that.

"No flags then." Tristan said simply, shrugging off Logan's latest taunt. "The last one standing gets all the money. If you guys bet me then I will give each one of you two thousand dollars." He said, knowing they wouldn't be able to resist.

"You're on." Logan said, shaking his head at what he thought was Tristan's stupidity.

"I get a head start of ten minutes." Tristan reached his hand out and Logan shook it. The guys all started suiting up as Tristan winked at Rory. "By the way guys as you lose, just give my wife the money." He looked up at Rory again. "Honey we're going to have us a huge dinner when we get back home." Rory laughed as Tristan pulled on his goggles.

"Rory aren't you mad at him? He's going to lose all of that money." She looked over at Olivia.

"Nope." She said simply, with a huge smile on her face.

As Tristan ran off to get his ten minute head start, the guys began to strategize.

"Okay guys box him in. Let's end this quickly. Finn and Marty you guys go west. Zach and Nathan go north. John and Steve, go east. Colin and I have the north." They all headed for the direction that Logan gave them.

* * *

The women were talking when they saw Finn and Marty walking towards the house.

"What happen to you guys?" Stephanie called out.

"We were by the pond and the next thing we knew someone's shooting us in the back. When we turned around, we didn't see anyone. Has he ever played before?" The last question was directed at Rory.

"Not that I know of." Rory answered, trying not to laugh.

* * *

Zach and Nathan were the next ones walking towards the house. The front of their shirts were covered in paint.

"He was right in front of us and we didn't even see him." Zach said dejectedly, as he sat down beside Lane.

"Same thing with us." Finn said as Rory shook her head.

"So what does Tristan do for a living?" Finn asked, noticing the look on Rory's face.

"He works for the government." She said vaguely trying not to smile.

* * *

John and Steve were walking towards them next and Rory was laughing at them. Right in the middle of there helmets was the red paint from Tristan's gun. Colin was walking by himself and he threw his helmet on the ground.

"What the hell does he do for a living?" Finn asked again, wondering how one guy was able to take all of them on his own.

"He never tells me when he gets back. I think it's top secret." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"He has to be cheating or something man." Colin said, as he leaned back on the porch railing.

"Tristan never cheats." Rory said seriously.

* * *

Logan was looking in every direction. On minute Colin was right beside him and the next he was shot in the leg. He stopped to catch his breath when he felt someone covering his mouth.

"You're lucky that this is just a game. If you ever talk to me or Rory like that again, I'll do things that will make you cry for your mom." Tristan threatened in a deadly voice. He pushed Logan down and shot him right between the eyes.

"So how did it go?" Rory asked already knowing the answer as Tristan walked up the steps. He was still wet from his dip in the pond.

"Cash only from everyone except Zach…he never made the bet." He took of his jacket leaving him in a white t-shirt. Everyone saw the outline of the dog tags.

"You're military?" Logan asked as Paris was looking at his forehead which had a bruise on it.

"I knew there was something I forgot to tell you!" Tristan said, feigning surprise and snapping his fingers.

"What part?" Zach asked as Tristan pulled the shirt over his head. Everyone else was huddled around the fire as he was changing clothes.

"SEALs." Was all Tristan had to say.

"We never stood a chance." Zach said, shaking his head. After changing into dry clothes he sat down behind Rory and hugged her. Everyone began to laugh, realizing what had happened. After a rough beginning, everyone started to have a good time.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter Tristan goes with Janlen to a Gilmore party. Lorelai will read the letter that Rory left her. Once again thanks for reading and reviewing the last chapter. 


	9. Chapter 9

This chapter is one of the darker ones again. Thanks to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better._

* * *

_

_Flashback, (A mouth after Rory left Stars Hollow)_

_Lorelai was looking at the stick and it was probably the worst news, and the best news she had gotten since Rory left. The door closed and she quickly put the test under the sink and walked downstairs. She saw Dean was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands._

"_Is everything alright?" She asked in concern, momentarily forgetting the test._

"_My parents kicked me out since I turned eighteen." He sighed dejectedly. She walked over to him and sat down and took his hand._

"_How serious are you about this, us?" She asked, looking him in the eye._

"_You should know by now." He said sincerely._

"_Then you can move in here and live with me." She said, giving him a small smile and squeezing his hand._

"_Are you sure?" He asked, looking at her intently to see how serious she was._

"_I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't sure." She said a little more confidently. She then looked around the room. "Do you have all of your clothes?"_

"_Some of them. I have to go get the rest when they leave for work tomorrow." He said looking towards his duffle bag near the door._

"_Take the Jeep with you…less trips. Now go upstairs and put your clothes away. I need to make a phone call then we'll order something to eat." She saw his face. "Sorry dude this house is a no cooking zone, unless you want to cook then its fine with me." She said smiling cheekily. He walked upstairs and Lorelai called and made a doctors appointment._

* * *

She knew that this Carol person had to be a friend of Rory and Tristan for her to know who Luke was. Amy ran inside with the mail in her hands and handed it to Lorelai.

"Did Kirk say anything to you?" Lorelai asked her youngest daughter.

"Nope he likes me. Did I get anything?" She asked excitedly. Lorelai threw some of the junk mail onto the table and saw the letter that had her oldest daughter's writing on it.

"Sorry honey not today. Go watch some TV for a little while and soon, we'll have to get ready for your grandmother's party tonight." Amy walked away and Lorelai tore open the letter.

Lorelai,

The only reason that I'm writing this to you is to help me get over the fact that you screwed up my life and I need to move on. Where to start…well I changed my name to Leigh so that I would never have to hear someone calling me Lorelai again. I married Tristan almost two years ago. We had the ceremony on a private beach that his grandfather owns. Luke and dad were both there, that was the first time since I left that I wanted to call you and ask you to come watch, but I couldn't bring myself to make that call. I'm also pregnant. I'm due in February.

Now that I have all the happy news out of the way, it's time to tell you why I wrote this. Walking into your house that night and seeing what I did really hurt me inside. You were supposed to be my best friend, but on top of that, you were my mother. You were supposed to be the one person who I could trust no matter what happened in my life. I'll never forget that feeling of seeing the two of you on the same couch where we watched movies, laughed at stupid infomercials. Where you held me that first night when he broke up with me. You betrayed me that night, but deep down I always had a feeling that you two were more than what you showed everyone. You always liked Dean more than I did sometimes. What hurt the most is when Tristan told me that when he went to get my things you never once said anything about leaving Dean and for us to talk everything over, that hurt the most. The thought that you gave me up for him.

I hope that when your other daughter gets a boyfriend that you don't try to take him also, you'll be three times his age, wait a minute you only like your daughter's boyfriends. When she decides to leave you, I'll give her a place to live. That was just a little bit of what I wanted to say to you Lorelai. Don't try calling me. If you do then I'll just hang up on you.

Leigh DuGrey

She wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked down at the letter. Rory was pregnant and she was missing everything. She looked into the living room at Amy, who was laughing at the cartoon that was on. She put the letter away, walked out and sat down beside Amy and kissed the top of her dark hair.

"Love you kid." She said, trying to hide the sadness in her voice. Fortunately, Amy was too engrossed in her cartoon to notice.

"I love you too mommy." Amy said happily.

* * *

Rory walked out to the pool house. She wanted to see if they had made any changes to it. Since their arrival, she felt as if it had been calling out to her and she had to go inside. She opened the door and saw everything was the same. The bed wasn't made, and nothing was sitting on the counter like it was the last time she was here.

"You just had to come in here didn't you?" She turned around and saw him leaning up against the door.

"I just wanted to see it before we went home." She shrugged. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her stomach. She leaned back into his chest as they both just stood there looking at the room. "I wonder if she got the letter." She said breaking the comfortable silence.

"My guess is that she did. You know she'll be at your grandmothers tonight." He said, pulling away slightly to look at her face.

"That's why I'm going to be out with Lane and the girls all night." She said determinedly.

"You want me to say anything to her?" He asked. She turned her head and looked him in the eyes.

"No I said everything I wanted to say so far in the letter. Plus, I don't want you to ruin my grandmother's party by doing something stupid." She said, keeping her voice light so that he knew the last part was said only half seriously.

"Granddad said he was sticking with me like glue. Call me if you need anything." He said, turning her so that she fully faced him, and bringing her into a tight embrace.

"I will." He whispered, leaning down and kissing her. They continued to kiss as they unconsciously moved further into the room, until her legs hit the bed and they both smiled. She had her hands on his chest and gave him a little push as he back away from her.

"Are you coming here tonight?" He asked, smirking at the flushed look on her face.

"Nope staying at Paris's house, if you told me that a few years ago those words would be coming from my mouth I would've slapped you." She said, as she sat down.

"I have to go get dressed. Tonight is going to be great." He said sincerely giving her the thumbs up and walked out of the pool house. She took one last look before she got off the bed and followed Tristan.

* * *

Tristan and Janlan walked into the Gilmore house. He was looking around the room, looking for them. A little girl was running and she ran right into his legs. He caught her before she could hit the ground. She looked up at him and once he saw her eyes, he knew who she belonged to.

"I'm sorry sir." She said politely. He just nodded and let her go. She just walked back the same way she had just come from.

"Tristan."

"Sorry gramps what did you say?" He said, shaking away his thoughts.

"Want anything to drink?" His grandfather asked.

"No I'm fine thanks." He said, once again distracted, when he spotted the same little girl, and noticed that she was talking to Lorelai. She pointed over towards him and his eyes met with his mother-in-law's. Tristan immediately turned his back to her and walked out the door.

* * *

"Wait!" Lorelai called out, as loudly as she could without attracting attention. "Is she here? Is Rory here?" She asked frantically. He kept his back towards her and was trying not to say anything.

"No. She didn't want to have a run in with you like I'm having right now." He turned around when she saw the fire in his eyes, she almost immediately took a step back. "I told you the night I got her things not to call her and what did you do? You called her. She stopped needing you from the time we set foot into her apartment. She became her own person and she turned out so much better then you'll ever be." He spat out, trying to keep his composure as he promised his wife he wouldn't ruin the Gilmore's party.

"Are you two still mad at me?" She asked in a small voice. He shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

"She is, but I'm not mad at you anymore." He said calmly.

"Why?" She said looking up at him in confusion.

"I got the girl." He said giving her the biggest smile. Lorelai knew however that the smile was due to the girl in question. "I got the most wonderful woman in the world to marry me, to love me, to give me that one thing that was always missing in my life…a family." He said simply.

"I'm sorry about that night." She said in a stronger voice. His brows furrowed.

"No…you're not. If you were then why would you still be with him?" He asked incredulously.

"I had his daughter." She said shrugging her shoulders, as though it were the most obvious reason.

"You never gave Chris the chance at seeing his daughter grow up. It's not like you needed a ring on your finger to raise a daughter. You did it once and you could've done it again." He said, his anger once again rising. "I will tell you this though, she did miss you every night for the first month."

* * *

_Flashback, (Few weeks after Rory left Stars Hollow)_

_Tristan walked into the apartment and saw Rory curled up in a little ball on the couch. She had been crying, and he what or whom the reason was._

"_Mary." He said softly. She turned her head at the sound of his voice._

"_What are you doing here?. You told me you had duty." She said sitting up quickly, wiping the tears from her face._

"_They took me off duty for the weekend." He said shrugging as he watched her try to compose herself._

"_Why am I still so upset over this, Tris? I don't want to cry over her anymore, but I can't help myself. I hate this feeling! I hate this power she still has over me." She cried out in frustration. He walked over and pulled her into a hug._

"_You need to let it all out Rory. I'm here for you let it all out." He said, rubbing her back and stroking her hair. She clung to his shirt and cried. "Do you want to get out of here and go somewhere?" He whispered._

"_I'm a wreck Tristan." She said brokenly._

"_You'll clean up nicely now go." He said pulling her to stand up and pushing her toward the bathroom to freshen up. " I heard about this party at this guy's house."_

_They pulled up to a house and knocked on the front door once they reached it. The door opened and Tristan held up some money and the guy opened the door for them. His hand was on the small of her back as they made their way through the drunken kids. After just a few minutes, he had lost Rory and was looking for her. He walked towards the stairs and took a few steps up to get a better view and saw her dancing with another guy. He decided to let her have some fun…she needed it._

_Three hours into the party and he began to get worried cause he'd lost sight of her again. He'd been looking for her for thirty minutes now._

"_You looking for the girl you came in here with?" A red headed girl walked up to him._

"_Yea have you seen her?" He said, sighing in relief that someone had seen her._

"_Derek took her upstairs a few minutes ago. Word of advice keep her away from Derek." She said knowingly._

"_Why?" He asked, afraid of what her answer would be._

"_He doesn't 'No' for an answer very well." She said narrowing her eyes._

"_Thanks." He said, looking in the direction of the stairs._

"_Allison." She offered. He looked back at her realizing she'd spoken._

"_Thanks Allison." He said sincerely, making his way to the stairway._

_He walked upstairs and was looking at all the doors, he walked over to the first one and saw two girls were naked on the bed kissing. If only he had a few hours he thought, as he stood there watching them for a few more seconds. _

_At the next door he saw a guys naked ass towards him so he quickly closed the door. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Rory's number. He was trying to listen to see if he could hear the ringing. _

_Moving down the next set of doors, he called it again and this time he heard the phone. He knocked on the door._

"_Get the fuck out of here." A rough voice called out. He knocked again. "I'm going to fucking kill who ever is knocking on the door if you don't get lost." Tristan tried the handle and it was locked. He moved back some and kicked the door in. He saw a guy jump off the bed only wearing his boxers. The girl was passed out on the bed as he walked into the room. "Get out of here before I beat your ass." The half naked guy yelled. He could barely contain his rage when he saw that the unconscious girl on the bed was Rory, and she was only in her underwear._

"_You better not have laid a finger on her." He seethed, not taking his eyes off of her. He walked over to the bed and knelt down._

"_Rory. Rory." He called out softly, holding her chin, trying to get her to wake up. "Come on Mary talk to me." He turned towards the guy who had a smirk on his face. _

"_What did you put in her drink?" He said barely containing his anger. The guy who he now presumed was Derek, just crossed his arms and smiled smugly._

"_Get lost. She said she wanted to have a good time. Now I'm going to show her a good time." He said nodding his head toward the bed._

_He walked over to Tristan, who shoved him against the wall. Tristan had his forearm against Derek's throat, barely containing the urge to kill this guy._

"_What did you put in her drink?" He asked, menacingly, tired of playing games._

"_Get lost little boy." Derek choked out, giving him a grin. Tristan reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. He opened it and was holding it front of the guy's boxers. "Come on man put the knife away." Derek's voice suddenly went two octaves higher in fear as his brain finally registered that Tristan meant business._

"_You're going to be missing something if you don't talk." Tristan said between gritted teeth. He put more pressure on the guy's throat. Derek's eyes began to water from the pressure. "Are you crying now?" Tristan teased. A crowd of people were now standing at the door as Tristan laughed some. _

"_Go to hell." Derek spat out trying to breathe._

"_Allison will you help Rory get dressed for me?" Tristan said, noticing her at the door. She nodded and walked into the room. Tristan took the hand with the knife and was about to push Derek's boxers down. Derek struggled in fear._

"_Okay! Okay, man! I gave her some GHB." Derek choked out. He looked Tristan in the eyes, wide and pleading to be let go._

"_Where is it?" Tristan asked not moving from his position._

"_I gave her what I had left." He answered honestly._

"_If I find out that you even tried to come near her again, I promise you that nothing can save you." He said in a quiet, deadly voice as he removed his arm and punched Derek in the face. Another guy walked into the room and Tristan just looked at him. "You want some? Come on then son." Tristan yelled, getting into a fighting stance. "Do something." The guy just stood there, dumbfounded, when Allison called out._

"_Ok, she's all dressed!" He walked away from the guy and picked Rory up while Allison followed closely behind him down the stairs._

_He closed the door to the back seat and leaned on it looking at Allison who smiled at him._

"_She has a great boyfriend in you." She said admiringly._

"_We're not dating just really close friends." He smiled as she blushed. _

"_So are you dating anyone?" She asked shyly._

"_I go to a military school so not many offers come my way." He said shrugging. She took his hand and wrote her number down._

"_Call me when you get some time." She smiled._

_(Two weeks later.)_

_Tristan used his key to get into the apartment. He and Rory hadn't talked this whole week, which was not normal. He walked down the hallway and saw that she wasn't in her bed, sleeping. The door opened and she walked inside as Derek waved at her. She jumped when she saw Tristan was standing in the hallway._

"_What do you want?" She asked, irritated._

"_Why didn't you call me?" He asked, his voice matching her irritation._

"_Why should I have called you?" She asked incredulously._

"_So I know you're alright. I was worried about you Rory." He said softly._

"_That's a first." She mumbled as he looked up at her._

"_What was that?" He asked, his eyebrow raised in surprise._

"_Where were you when some guy was trying to rape me?" She spat out, unable to hold in what had been bothering her all week._

"_I was getting him off of you. That same guy was the person who you were just out with Rory. I stopped him." He yelled._

"_Bullshit Tristan, Derek was the guy who pulled him off of me. He said that he had to drag you away from Allison to get you to take me home." She yelled back._

"_Wow you remembered all of this when you were passed out because of the GHB that he gave you." He said sarcastically._

"_He wouldn't do that." She said immediately._

"_Who the hell are you going to believe him or me?" He asked, not believing that Rory actually thought he would leave her hanging like that._

"_He has been with me the last two weeks talking to me making sure I was alright. Where were you Tristan?" She yelled._

"_I told you what happened and I'm sorry about that Rory. He was the one who drugged you and Allison was the one who dressed you. He was about to rape you and I pulled him off. If you don't believe me then, fine. But you seriously need to stay away from him Rory, he's dangerous." He said calmly, trying not to show his disappointment._

"_You're not my boyfriend Tristan. I can date whom ever I want to." She said defiantly._

"_Call me when you come to your senses." He said sarcastically, as he picked up his coat and walked out of the apartment._

* * *

"Then why didn't she come home or call me?" Lorelai asked desperately.

"And what? Just watch you and Dean together. All she wanted that night was for you to say how much of mistake it was for doing what you did. That was one of the things she asked me when I got back to my house." Lorelai wiped her eyes and looked down at the ground. "All you had to do was do one thing, Lorelai. One small gesture, but you chose him over your daughter."

"I love him." She said simply as though it answered everything.

"And _I_ don't care! Who you love is irrelevant to me…it does however, bring up an important question. After this, I won't bother you for the rest of the night, and please be sure to stay out of my way as well." He paused as she nodded uncomfortably. "Do you love Dean more than your own daughter?" He asked. She looked up suddenly as though she'd been slapped. Satisfied that he had the desired effect, he nodded in farewell and walked away from her.

"Hello Tristan." He turned around and saw Emily give him a little smile.

"Mrs. Gilmore how are you?" He asked warmly.

"I'm good how are you two doing?" She asked.

"Great." He said honestly.

"Is your family still coming over for dinner tomorrow?"

"Yes we are thanks for having us." He said giving her a grateful smile. She smiled and walked over to Richard. He picked up his glass of water and walked over to the little girl who almost ran into him. She looked up at him and smiled.

"What's your name?" She asked kindly.

"Tristan DuGrey, what's yours" He asked, smiling at her.

"Amy Forester. Do you know my grandma?" She asked, looking behind him where Emily and Richard stood.

"Yes, we're friends." He answered, looking in the same direction.

"Do you know my sister?" She asked suddenly. It surprised him to know that Lorelai spoke to her about Rory.

"How did you know about her?" He asked curiously.

"My mom talked about her and I've seen pictures." She shrugged.

"Yea I know her." He pulled out his wallet and handed her a picture of the two of them. He was wearing his uniform and Rory was wearing a red dress.

"She's really pretty." She said in awe of the photo.

"Yes she is. Where's your dad at?" He asked, looking around.

"He's around here somewhere. Grandma and grandpa don't really like him." She said, not taking her eyes off the picture.

"Could I take a picture of you so I could show it to your sister?" He asked making her look up at him.

"If I can have a picture of her." She bargained. He smiled and looked inside of his wallet again. He pulled out another picture of Rory and handed it to her.

"Here you go." He said then opened his phone as she smiled for him.

Across the room, Lorelai was watching Tristan as he talked to Amy. He must have some pull with her daughters. She saw him handing her something and then taking her picture as Amy laughed.

* * *

Thanks for all the reveiws for the last chapter. Next chapter will be Rory going to Stars Hollow and meeting her sister. Once again thanks for everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. 


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks go to LoVe23 as always for making the chapter better.

* * *

Dean was standing at the door of his daughter's room watching her sleep. He loved his little girl so much, but still to this day he always thought about the way he got here and how much he hurt Rory over it.

_Flashback (Three months after Rory left)_

_Dean was standing outside of what used to be Rory's room. Not one day went by that she didn't pop into his head and how much he hurt her. Not once when everything started with Lorelai did he think about Rory and how much this might hurt her. When people say that guilt eats at a person's soul they hit the nail on the head with him and nothing he did would make up for the pain he caused her. He picked up the phone and looked down at a number he had gotten a few days ago._

"_DuGrey residence."_

"_Is Tristan there?" He asked politely._

"_No sir he is out of the state right now."_

"_Do you know where I can reach him?" He knew that all of this was an act so people wouldn't know that he was in Military School._

"_Only family members know that sir I'm sorry." Time for a different approach._

"_Do you have the number for an apartment that is owned by the DuGrey's in North Carolina?" He asked determinedly._

"_Who are you sir?" The maid asked suspiciously._

"_A friend of Tristan's from Chilton." He had to think fast and hope she didn't notice the slight pause._

"_Sir I've been told that any friends from Chilton were not to come into contact with Mr. DuGrey. Have a nice day sir." The other end went dead as Dean threw the phone onto the couch._

* * *

"So what did you say to her?" Tristan had just walked into the bedroom after taking his morning shower.

"Who?" Tristan asked confused.

"Lorelai." She said.

"Nothing major. I want to show you something." He slid a picture face down to her. "This is of your little sister Amy. She said that Lorelai talks about you a lot to her. If you don't want to look at it then I will take it away right now." Rory looked down at it running her fingers over the back.

"Did she seem nice?" She asked, still eyeing the back of the photo.

"Yea she did. You know your grandparents are going to have pictures of her out tonight, I just thought you should get it over with early." She nodded and looked at the back of the picture. Tristan walked away leaving her to do this on her own.

She picked up the picture and took a deep breath and turned it over. She saw the little girl grinning. Her blue eyes were just like hers, she had long dark hair. Everything screamed Lorelai except for her nose and mouth those were from Dean. She opened up a book that she had tucked away in her suitcase and put the picture inside. She closed the book and walked downstairs and saw Tristan was talking to his mother.

* * *

"So he's coming home then?" Rory walked in and saw the smile on his mom's face.

"Yep Monday they said everything looks good." Tristan's mom responded happily.

"So the pneumonia is almost gone and his heart is back up to where it should be." Rory asked as they both looked over at her.

"Yep they don't know what caused it. I don't really care either I'm just happy he is coming home." His mom replied.

"That's great news mom. We'll stop and see him this afternoon." Tristan said, reaching over to give his mother a hug.

"I'm on my way over there right now." She smiled, and made her way to the door. She turned briefly to wave good bye and left, as Tristan turned towards Rory.

"So what do you think about her?" Tristan asked.

"If she wasn't his daughter then we could've been close." She said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"Are you ready for Emily tonight?" He whispered, taking one of her hands and placing a kiss in the middle of her palm.

"Yea why not it's been awhile since I've seen grandpa and we could always use a good meal." She leaned down and kissed him.

"I cook all the time." He said in mock indignation.

"Like I said a _good_ meal." She walked away leaving Tristan just shaking his head and following her out.

* * *

Lorelai walked into the diner and saw the woman talking to Luke again. She sat down beside her as Luke grabbed a cup for her.

"Good morning Luke." She said with a smile.

"Good morning Lorelai, what can I get you?" Luke replied.

"Pancakes are fine." She turned towards Carol. "I'm Lorelai Gilmore."

"Carol McCoy nice to meet you." Carol responded with a friendly smile.

"You're new around here?" Lorelai asked innocently.

"Yea just visiting Luke." Luke turned his head and smiled at her.

"Where did the two of you meet?" Lorelai asked, once again feigning innocence.

"Look I know who you are and what you did so don't try to play me. Tristan served with my late husband and I've gotten to know Rory, SEALs wives stick together and all. I'm not your friend and you won't get any information out of me about them. You're just lucky that I'm not kicking your ass right now." She got up and went to an empty table as Luke carried over the pancakes and Lorelai looked at the two of them.

"Nice lady." Lorelai mumbled. Luke just looked at her before walking over to the table and sitting down.

Tristan pulled up to the diner and saw Carol was talking to Luke and then he saw Lorelai eating. He got out of the car and walked inside and Luke looked up. With a smile on his face, he walked over and shook Tristan's hand.

_Flashback, (Two months after Rory left Stars Hollow)_

_Tristan opened the apartment door and saw a man standing on the other side._

"_Sorry I'm looking for Rory Gilmore." Luke asked, a little unsure._

"_She's in the shower come on in." Tristan answered, stepping aside, and opening the door. Luke walked inside and saw bags were packed._

"_Are you the one who called me?" Luke asked, eyeing the young man._

"_Yea Tristan DuGrey." Tristan responded politely._

"_Luke Danes. How is she doing?" They shook hands as Luke closed the door._

"_Not good her grades are falling. She's drinking with her boyfriend. I tried to help her, but she won't listen to me. I called her father, but he couldn't make it. I know she said something about you once and I thought you could try to talk some sense into her." They heard the door closing and saw Rory walk out in a short black leather skirt, a shirt that barely covered her breasts and a choker._

"_Luke what are you doing here?" She said, stopping suddenly._

"_Tristan called me." Luke explained. Tristan walked out of the apartment leaving them alone. _

"_What's going on Rory? Grades are dropping, you're drinking. This isn't you." Luke said, not bothering to hide how upset he was._

"_Maybe I've changed." She shrugged._

"_Not this much. What are you doing this for?" He asked, sternly._

"_What, being a teenager?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips as Luke ran his hand over his face._

"_I might not know the full story about what happen with your mom…" Luke tried again._

"_Don't you call her my mom." She interrupted, pointing an accusing finger at him._

"_Fine. I may not know everything that happened with _Lorelai_ and Dean, but this isn't you Rory. Tristan seems to care so much about you. You're hurting him by acting this way." He scolded, not letting her interrupt him again. _

_She lowered her hands and looked at Luke. All this time not once had she ever thought about Tristan and how he was feeling. Seeing that she was listening to him, he continued. "He really seems to care about you. Don't do this to him Rory." He saw tears coming to her eyes. "You can do so many great things in your life Rory don't throw them away on what she did to you. Let the people who love you, know you, and care about you help you!" He said, practically begging. _

_She broke down crying as he walked over to her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and cried into his chest. She knew that this is what she needed, someone from her past calling her out on all the shit that she had been doing lately. _

_End Flashback._

"Tristan, nice to see you again." Carol got up and hugged him. Luke stood up and shook Tristan's hand.

"What can I get you?" Luke asked.

"Coffee for now thanks." Carol looked over at Lorelai who had stopped eating and was listening to them talk.

"How is Rory?" She asked.

"She's great. We were just talking about you the other night." Tristan smiled.

"Why do I get a feeling that's not good." He laughed as Luke set the coffee down on the table.

"Nothing bad,l trust me. We were just talking about how many pictures you were going to take when the baby gets here." She smiled as Lorelai fell off the stool.

"I know I just got this new camera for work! It'll make the baby look so great." She said excitedly.

"Can I talk to you outside please?" Tristan looked up at Lorelai.

"Sure after I put my order in. Luke I need two orders of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon, hash browns and fruit salad to go please." He stood up and they walked outside.

"Just remember that I'm a married man and that I won't do anything to ever hurt Rory unlike two people that I know." He said cynically.

"Why are you doing this?" She had a hold of his arm, and he roughly pulled it away from her.

"Doing what? Talking to friends of mine?" He sneered. She took a couple of steps away from him.

"Making me feel sorrier than I already am." She whispered.

"You should! You should feel horrible for what you did to her! She was your own _daughter_." He hissed, trying not to yell. He looked up when he saw someone walking towards them. "Finally I get to kick his ass again." He smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked threateningly, placing an arm around his wife.

"Talking to your wife. She keeps trying to get me in bed with her, but I told her I don't sleep with my wife's mother unlike some people I know." Dean moved in front of Lorelai. "Back up boy before you get hurt." Tristan warned, his voice dropping to a dangerous level.

"Leave my family alone." Dean gritted out.

"Twice it was your wife that made the move on me and I had to shoot her down. So are you just going to stand there with empty threats, or are you going to be stupid enough to try something?" Dean went to punch Tristan, but he moved and caught his arm, twisting it behind his back. "Come on if I had a little sister she could do better then that." He smacked him in the back of the head before pushing him away.

"I'm trained in hand to hand combat you moron." Dean came at him again, but Tristan moved to the side and threw him to the ground. He raised his fist up and was about to punch Dean.

"Tristan your foods ready." Luke had his head out the door. Tristan looked up at Luke who wasn't going to come out and stop him from hitting Dean.

"Tell your wife to keep her hands off me. The next time you ever touch me will be your last." He threatened, before walking to his car. Carol walked out with the bags and sat down in Tristan's car.

* * *

Rory looked over her shoulder and saw Carol was the one walking into the house. She got off the couch and hugged her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked happily.

"I was visiting Luke when your cute husband walked into the diner. He's lucky that I didn't jump him right there." They both laughed and sat down on the couch.

"When did you get here?" Rory asked.

"A few days ago." Carol smiled. "So…I meet Lorelai."

"Please don't tell me you hit her?" Rory asked, eyeing her friend.

"I wanted to so bad." Rory laughed as she grabbed the food. "Slow down woman."

"I missed Luke's food so much." Rory finished off the eggs and bacon, and was now pouring the syrup on her pancakes. She took a bite of the hash browns. "Good this is better then sex." She moaned, in between bites.

"Hey." Tristan exclaimed as he walked in from the kitchen with a half gallon of milk and three glasses.

"Well, almost better, but just as good." Rory amended.

"Wow I don't even compare to food now, way to make me feel good, dear wife." He said in mock hurt. She just nodded and went back to eating.

* * *

"Sorry Lorelai we have company tonight." She was begging her mother to have her over for dinner tonight.

"Mom I want to come to dinner and you won't let me, that's a first in your book." Lorelai said in surprise.

"If you must know our guests don't really like you that much." Emily answered.

"But I'm your family mom." Emily looked over at her daughter, and the look Lorelai saw in her mother's eyes, made her back away.

"Lorelai I know that you know that Rory and Tristan are coming over to dinner with his mother and grandfather so just knock it off. I just want a nice dinner with my granddaughter that you ran out of town, and if you show up here I will have you arrested for trespassing." Emily explained.

"Mom I just want a chance to…" Lorelai begged but Emily raised her hand and she stopped talking.

"No Lorelai she will talk to you when she wants to. Now I need to get into the kitchen and make sure they are cooking everything alright. You can show yourself out" Emily said, walking away from her daughter.

* * *

They were in his car driving as she was now thinking about every Friday that she and Lorelai would spend at the house. She missed it as much as she complained about it at the time.

"Trying to channel the old Rory Gilmore Friday night dinner girl?" She looked over at his smiling face.

"You know me too well." She smiled.

"I called Emily and she made sure that if Lorelai showed up tonight she would be in lock up." Tristan said proudly.

"For once I'm not thinking about her. I think this week here has almost set my mind free." Rory whispered, in content.

"Are you ready to see her then?" Tristan asked cautiously, glancing at her from time to time.

"Not yet, but close." She replied honestly.

"What did you tell the doctor about this week's appointment?" He asked.

"His office is closed Friday, except for emergencies, which fortunately, I'm not one of those people." The drive was now quiet as she looked out the window again and he took her hand. "Do you ever think about those nights Tristan?" He knew she was talking about the night with Derek all those years ago.

"Sometimes I do, but just know this Rory, I won't ever let anything happen to you." He said seriously, lifting her hand to his lips.

"I'm still so sorry for not believing you." She whispered, tightening her hold on his hand.

_Flashback, (A week after the fight about Derek)_

_Rory opened the door and saw Tristan was standing there with his hands in his pockets. He took a deep breath and she moved so he could walk inside._

"_I'm sorry Rory you can date who ever you want to. It's just that he was the one who drugged you and tried to rape you." He tried explaining._

"_That's funny a freshman from school was arrested for doing that same thing to other girls at that party." She scoffed._

"_Who turned him in?" Tristan asked, curiously._

"_Derek and some of the other basketball players saw him one day at school, and then he confessed. So you can get off your high horse Derek was just trying to help me that night when you saw him Tristan." Rory sneered._

"_So he had to take off all his clothes to help you?" Tristan asked, trying to get her to understand._

"_He said that during the fight the drugs were spilled on him that is why he had his clothes off." She replied easily._

"_You believe him?" He asked incredulously._

"_Of course I do. I have to believe my boyfriend." A knock on the door interrupted her and Rory smiled. She opened it up and Derek was standing there with movies and junk food. _

"_I didn't know you had company. Derek Smith." He said, reaching his hand out to Tristan who just looked down at it. "Not into talking okay."_

"_This is my friend Tristan DuGrey. He's being a pain in the ass, but that is nothing new for him. I need to talk to him in the other room real quick." She turned her back to him and he gave Tristan a smirk._

"_You have to leave Tristan." Rory told him._

"_Think again Mary I'm not leaving you with a druggy and a rapist." She looked at him and was about to smack him when he caught her arm. "After everything that we've been through you're willing to give all that up for a guy you just met at a party?" He asked her, still not believing how she was acting._

"_I like him Tristan. I owe him for saving me." She said softly._

"_So if I was a guy and lied to you would you like me then too?" He scoffed._

"_Get out of my place." She said angrily, pulling her arm out of his grasp._

"_Sorry, remember I live here on the weekends. So that means you're stuck with me until Sunday night." He sat down on his bed and turned the t.v. on. _

_Walking out to the kitchen he saw Derek had his arm around Rory and was about to kiss her. They both looked up and saw Tristan's face right beside them._

"_Problem dude?" He smirked at Tristan who had his hands balled up into fists._

"_I was wondering if you had any GHB on you. You see there is this girl I like, but she won't talk to me. I thought since it worked so well for you I could follow your plan on getting women to like you." He jumped off the couch and went after Tristan, who moved and slammed him against the wall his forearm in his neck. "This seems familiar to me. What about you?" Rory was trying to pull Tristan off. "I told you to leave her alone man, but you just couldn't follow orders. So now, I'm going to say this. You try to hurt her again and I will find you and hurt you. Do you understand me now boy?" He nodded as Tristan let him hit the floor. He leaned down and was right in his face. "I'm watching you." Tristan gave one more look at Rory before heading back down the hallway to his room._

"_What the hell was that Tristan?" She yelled as she made it into his room._

"_He came after me I had to defend myself." He sat his schoolbook down on the bed. "If you don't listen to anything else I say listen to this. Be very careful around him. Don't drink anything that's been opened by anyone other than myself." He then leaned over and turned off his light, leaving Rory to stand in the middle of his room in the dark._

* * *

Thank you for reviewing the last chapter. Sorry but next chapter will have Rory going to Stars Hollow not this chapter. So for the mistake. Once again thanks for reading and reviewing the last chapter. 


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks goes out to **LoVe23** as always for making the chapter better.

* * *

Rory knocked on her grandmother's door as Tristan put his arm around her. The door opened and Emily pulled her into a hug. Tristan shoved his hands into his black pants. 

"Come in." The hug ended and Rory walked inside. She handed her long black coat to the housekeeper. "You two want anything to drink?"

"Water is fine grandma." She saw Richard walking towards them. He hugged her and shook Tristan's hand.

"You look great Rory. We really missed having you here for dinner." Richard said sincerely, flashing his granddaughter a smile.

"I missed you guys too." She sat down beside Tristan who wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Emily handed them each a glass of water.

"How was that school you went to Rory, St. John's right?" Richard asked sitting down with his own drink.

"I loved the school grandpa. It might not have been what I wanted to start out with, but after the first few weeks I fell in love with it." Rory said smiling.

"How is your job going?" Emily asked getting into the conversation.

"Great! The students really want to learn." She said, beginning to relax.

"How about you Tristan?" Emily asked innocently. Tristan stiffened slightly, but only Rory noticed. She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze in reassurance

"You don't want to hear about my job Mrs. Gilmore." He answered evenly.

"Non sense." Emily waved off, not noticing his discomfort.

"I like what I do most of the time. Some times it can get to you and you just hope for the best outcome." He answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"That sounds like every job." Richard said and Tristan nodded.

"Yea I guess it does." He said, shrugging again. They all sat around in comfortable silence, just enjoying the moment.

"Your mother called. She and Janlan will be a little late." Emily said breaking everyone out of their reverie. They started to catch up on the years missed. The only thing that was not talked about was Lorelai.

* * *

Rory pulled off her shoes as they walked into the DuGrey home. She rubbed her lower back as Tristan walked inside closing the door. Reaching up he pulled off her coat and hung it up. 

"Tonight was fun." He said nonchalantly. The drive home had been silent. Although it hadn't been an uncomfortable one, he still wanted to find out how his wife was holding up.

"Yea I had a blast spending an hour throwing up." She replied, sarcastically.

"Well your grandmother had a nice time when you were sitting at the table." He said, trying to get her to talk.

"I wish all of the dinners at that house would've been like that." She sighed, as they walked into the living room and sat down. "It was always so hostile with Lorelai not wanting to be there."

"Sounds like Sunday morning brunch at my house growing up. My aunt Shelly would come over for breakfast and her and mom would get into it about everything." Tristan replied, as he pulled Rory's feet into his lap and began to rub them. She moaned in delight.

"Your mom doesn't seem like the type." She answered, with her eyes closed, enjoying her foot rub.

"My aunt is a bitch. She's younger than my mom by two years. She married someone with more money than my dad. She had two kids that were angels." He replied with sarcasm.

"The way you acted your mom lost that one." She said, looking directly at him. His eyes narrowed, and he pointed a finger at her in warning as she laughed.

"Laugh it up. Just think in three months you'll be giving birth to my child. You know what they say about kids. They are twice as bad as you were." He said smugly.

"That's the thing, I was an angel growing up so it will cancel out all the bad things you did." She replied easily, smiling at him. The smile fell off his face, as he turned away from her, and looked down at her feet in his lap.

"Rory I've done some pretty horrible things in my time." He said quietly. She pulled her feet out of his lap, and sat closer to him, touching his shoulder to make him look at her.

"Let's just hope the kid takes after the grown up you. The one who always saved me, the man I fell in love with." She said honestly. He cupped her chin and kissed her.

Their moment was broken as Tristan's mother walked into the room.

"I'm so sorry." She called out in embarrassment, as Tristan pulled away. He sighed and sat back on the couch.

"It's fine mom. We were just going to watch a movie if you would like to join us." He said, letting her know he wasn't upset.

"No I'm going to the hospital to spend the night with your father. We'll be here around eleven tomorrow." She said calmly.

"Our flight leaves at four." He replied. She nodded and walked upstairs.

* * *

_Flashback, (A week after Derek came over) _

_Tristan had his bag slung over his shoulder as she walked down the hallway to the apartment. School was almost over and he was going to be entering the Naval Academy early. He heard loud music coming from their place. He opened the door and a person held out a coffee can full of money. _

_"Twenty bucks." The stranger called out. He just looked at the guy and was going to walk away. The guy's hand came up and was against his chest. "No one gets in without paying." The guy said, trying to sound threatening. _

_"You have three seconds to remove your hand. One, two, three." Tristan grabbed his hand and twisted it behind the guys back. The money can fell to the floor as Tristan shoved him face first into the wall. "I live here. So that means that I don't have to pay you anything." _

* * *

_Finally moving through the people he was at his bedroom door. He opened it up and saw two people were on his bed making out. He threw his bag down and they broke apart. He saw Allison and Derek's friend were the people on his bed. Tristan and Allison had been seeing each other since Rory and Derek got together._

_"Tristan." She called out. He shook his head and walked out of the room. Rory saw him walking to the front door with his head hung low. She then saw Allison running down the hall. She was about to leave when Derek grabbed her arm. _

_"Let him handle this. She's been cheating on him since they've been going out." Derek told her. _

_"Tristan's my friend he needs me." She said looking at him. _

_"Well you're my girlfriend and I need you to help me with a problem." He was pulling her down the hallway. _

* * *

_Tristan was standing in the middle of the room fighting three guys. One of them was the guy who was with Allison in his room, the other two were friends of Derek's. One guy jumped onto his back as the other punched him in the face. Tristan stumbled back some before throwing the guy off his back. He kicked the kid standing in front of him in the face as the other backed away from him._

_"Everyone get the fuck out of here now." He screamed and they all looked at him. "Get out now." The people realized that he wasn't playing games with them and they all started to leave. He touched his busted lip and looked at Rory. Everyone had left except for Derek. "You are part of the '_everyone'_." Tristan said, wiping the blood off his face. _

_"Rory wants me to stay." Derek said smugly. _

_"You should leave Derek. I'll call you tomorrow." Rory said, looking over at Tristan who was breathing hard. He leaned down and kissed her before walking over to the door. "Are you alright?" She asked, looking at Tristan who was breathing heavily. _

_"Like you give a shit about me. For the past two months you've hardly talked to me." He bit out. _

_"It goes both ways Tristan." She said, crossing her arms across her chest. _

_"You know what? You're not worth my grandfather's money." He said looking at her angrily. She looked at him not knowing what to say. "I saw the report that they sent to you. Your grades have gone down since you moved here." _

_"Shut up Tristan." She said quietly, looking down at the floor. _

_"What, the truth hurts. You need to grow up and act like you did before." He said, his voice rising. _

_"What your little Mary. The nice girl from the small town." She said sarcastically, still unable to look at him. _

_"Yea… her… the real you. Derek is using you for one thing, and by the looks of your hair he almost got it." He said, snidely. _

_"Isn't that what you wanted from me? To fuck me and then move on? Derek is nothing like you Tristan he really cares for me." She said defiantly, finally looking up at him. Tristan just looked at her and laughed. _

* * *

_Tristan woke up and walked out of his room. He saw all the lights were still on in the living room. As he walked out and noticed Rory was passed out on the couch. He turned off the lights and walked back to his room. With his hand on the knob, he looked back into the living room. _

_He scooped her up and walked down the hallway to her room. He kicked the door open with his foot and walked in. He laid her down and looked at her. He brushed the hair from her face and ran his hand down her cheek. _

* * *

_Sitting down on his bed he opened the book. He saw names and numbers listed. He saw Luke's and remembered she talked about missing his food. After trying to call Chris and being told he had an important meeting tomorrow and would call her when he had the time, it was on to plan B. _

_"It's three in the morning whose is calling me?" The gruff voice on the other end answered. _

_"This is Tristan. I need someone to talk to." Tristan sighed. _

_"Tristan who took Rory with him Tristan?" Luke answered, fully awake now. _

_"Yea." Tristan replied, his voice cracking as he felt tears coming to his eyes. "She's getting out of control and I can't do anything about it. She won't listen to me, and I'm worried about her." He ran his hand over his face and closed his eyes. _

* * *

_(The week after Luke came.)_

_Rory was sitting in the living room waiting for Tristan to show up. He was late, which meant that he was in trouble. She heard a noise at the door, and smile came to her face as she walked over and opened it. _

_"You have a key." She called out assuming it was Tristan. She saw her boyfriend and his friend standing at the door. _

_"You're not ready. There's this party at Allison's house." Derek said, looking at her. _

_"I have plans with Tristan tonight." She said calmly. _

_"No, you're coming to this party with me." He said, as he grabbed her wrists and pushed her on the couch. His friend went over to the window and was looking out for Tristan. "You've been a real tease with me lately Rory Gilmore." His hands tightened around her wrist. _

_"We're over… let go of me." She said struggling to get out of his hold. _

_"Not until I get what I'm owed." He said, forcing her back onto the couch. _

_"Dude he's coming." His friend yelled. They both left the apartment as Rory rubbed her wrist. They were already bruising. The door opened and she made it look like she was waiting for him _

_Rory was waiting for Tristan to come and pick her up. They were going to the movies like every other Friday night. They never talked about that night at his pool house, or about her mother. He had become her best friend since coming with him. _

_"I wanna know why you're late again this time?" She said teasingly in greeting. He opened the door. He was still wearing his uniform. "I was kept over for a violation." He said, with a serious look on his face. _

* * *

"You sure you want to do this?" He looked over at her and she nodded. He parked the car and walked inside for a few minutes. She laughed as everyone was pushed out the door. Tristan walked out a few minutes later and opened her door. She buried her head into his chest as he walked them up a few steps. She smiled at the warmth that this place still gave her. She felt arms coming around her. 

"It's been way too long since I was in here." She looked up at Luke who nodded.

"I've missed you Rory." He said, trying not to get emotional.

"Me too Luke. Can I get some chili fries?" She smiled. He laughed and nodded as he walked into the kitchen. She sat down with Tristan away from the windows so no one could see her.

"Glad you wanted to do this?" Tristan asked, reaching for his hand.

"Yea I really missed this place." She said, looking around.

* * *

Lorelai and Amy were walking down the street when she saw that the diner was closed. She looked around and saw a car parked out front. She moved and saw a man with short blonde hair sitting at one of the tables. She knew it was Tristan. Luke walked over to the table and sat a plate of food down on the opposite side of Tristan. She walked up to the door and knocked. Luke looked over and just shook his head.

"Luke let me in. I know she's in there." She said with a determined voice.

"I'm closed for the day. Go somewhere else Lorelai." He called out ignoring her comment.

"Rory please talk to me." She cried out. When she caught sight of Tristan, she saw him turn around.

"I want to see my sister Tristan." He looked over his shoulder and nodded. Walking over to the door he looked at Lorelai.

"She wants to see Amy." Lorelai knew this was sort of a test for her and she nodded. Tristan unlocked the door and reached his hand out to the little girl. "Go wait with bagboy and I'll make sure she gets back to you." She was looking at Rory now. Her hair was about shoulder length and curled at the ends.

* * *

Rory was holding back tears right now as she looked at Lorelai. The images from that night six years ago were coming back to her, Dean's body moving and the moans coming from both of them. She had to look away as the tears came down her cheeks.

"Amy, this is your sister Rory." Rory turned her head, as the little girl looked nervous. She was pulling on her coat sleeves and looking down to the ground.

"Hi Amy." Rory said sweetly.

"Hi. Why did you leave for?" Amy asked as she looked up and Rory closed her eyes.

"Your mom and dad hurt me very badly." She answered, trying to keep her voice calm.

"What did they do?" Amy asked, innocently.

"You'll have to ask them when you grow up. Do you like to read?" Rory asked, quickly changing the subject. The little girl nodded and Rory reached into her bag and pulled out a book. "Do you know who Peter Pan is?"

"Yea I like the peanut butter." Amy answered. Rory just laughed.

"Okay, but this is a different Peter Pan. This was one of my favorite books when I was growing up." She said, giving Amy the book. "I want you to have it." The little girl's blue eyes were bright now.

"Really you're giving me a book?" Amy asked in awe.

"Yep. Tristan's going to take you back over to your mom now. It was nice meeting you Amy." Rory said, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice.

"Will I ever get to see you again?" Amy said, pouting.

"You never know." Rory reached her hand out and Amy put her smaller hand into it.

* * *

"Mommy! Rory gave me a book." She showed the book to both Lorelai and Dean. Tristan was standing at the open door watching them. Lorelai looked up and Tristan walked over to his car.

"She did?" Lorelai said, still watching Tristan.

"Yep! Peter Pan, and not the peanut butter either." Amy said, looking at her present. As she watched the black car pull away, she saw her eldest daughter look right at her. She had a feeling that this might be the last time she ever saw Rory.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter will have what happened when Chris found out about Rory leaveing and what he has to say about it. Also what happened to Carol's husband. Once again thatnks for reading and reviewing the last chapter. 


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks as always to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better.

* * *

"Hello Rory how was your holiday?" Rory didn't answer until she made her way to the couch and sat down.

"I went home and saw Lorelai and my sister." She said, arranging herself on the couch. She missed the look of surprise on the doctor's face.

"Did you talk to her?" Dr. Roberts asked.

"No, but I did write her a letter." She supplied, as the doctor jotted down some items in a notebook.

"Did you feel better after writing the letter?" The doctor asked, not looking up from the notebook.

"Yea I did. It's funny for the first time in six years I feel calm about myself." Rory answered, with a wistful smile.

"In the short time you have been coming here you have made a big difference. Anything you want to talk about today?"

"I went to Stars Hollow this weekend and met my sister." Rory said softly, looking down at her lap.

"Was your mother there?" Dr. Roberts asked, looking up, noticing the change in Rory's voice.

"I saw her when she walked past the diner and when we were going back to Tristan's parent's house." He flipped the notebook page.

"Good…how was it seeing her again?" The doctor pressed on.

"I felt numb all over. One part of me was glad to see her, the other part wanted to rip her eyes out and shove them done his throat." Rory answered, the last part said with a slight growl.

"Dean?" Dr. Roberts asked, clearly interested in Rory's reaction.

"Yea him." She answered bitterly.

"Did you see him too?" The doctor asked, gently.

"No, but Tristan did." Rory breathed out.

* * *

She walked inside and saw all the mail that was laid down on the table. Larry was supposed to keep everything nice and neat for them. She was shorting the mail out as Tristan walked into the living room.

"I was about to do that Rory." He said as he sat down beside her.

"I'm not helpless Tristan. When I see Larry I'm going to kill him." Rory gritted out. Tristan laughed at his wife's outburst. Rory and Larry had always had a love-hate friendship. Larry loves to piss her off and Rory hates it.

"I know you're not helpless Rory. I just thought you were going to be gone longer then you were." He touched her cheek and she looked over at him. He could tell something was wrong with her. "You alright?"

_(Flashback two months after Derek was arrested,)_

_Rory was sitting outside reading under a tree and waiting for Tristan to come pick her up. She saw Derek's parents walking towards her. She stood up and they stopped in front of her._

"_Do you know what you cost our son?" Derek's father spat out._

"_I really don't care." Rory looked back down at her book. Outraged at Rory's lack of respect, he ripped it out of her hands and she stood up._

"_You little bitch you ruined his life." He yelled, getting into her face._

"_He tried to rape me twice." She yelled back in his face. He stepped towards her and she took two steps back. _

"_You were probably asking him for it so he could knock you up and live off of him." He bit out, giving her a look of disgust._

"_Is there a problem here." They turned around and saw Tristan walking towards them._

"_You are a murderer." Derek's dad hissed at him_

"_You say murder and I say justifiable homicide." He walked past them and put his arm around Rory. "You should be happy that Derek is in jail."_

"_Why is that?" Derek's mom asked as Tristan grabbed Rory's book from Derek's father's hands._

"_He could've been six feet under with his friend. Now why don't the two of you leave Rory here alone and never talk to her again." They looked at Tristan and walked back towards their car. _

_He looked down at Rory. "You alright?"_

_(End Flashback,)_

"Yea just thinking about Stars Hollow." She said, leaning into his touch.

"You were great Rory, I'm proud of you." She smiled as Tristan walked into the bedroom. "I have to go to the base for a few hours. I'll bring something home to eat with me." He called out.

"Everything alright?" She asked. He walked out with his camo pants, boots, and his dark blue shirt that had his name on it.

"Yea just have to go in for a little bit and talk to command." He leaned down and kissed her before walking out the door.

* * *

Lorelai walked into the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot. After getting her coffee, she walked over and grabbed a cookie.

"So did you see her?" Sookie asked excitedly. She'd missed Rory so much and wanted to know every detail.

"Yea she was at Luke's with Tristan. She gave Amy a book which Amy hasn't put down yet." Lorelai answered sullenly.

"It's a start at least she was around." Sookie walked to the other side of the kitchen. "How did she look?"

"Shorter hair and you could tell she's pregnant." Lorelai said.

"Did he say anything to you?" Sookie asked softly, knowing this was hard on her best friend.

"Just that she had a rough first couple of months…nothing else." Lorelai put the cup down. "Amy walked right up to him and talked to him like she knew him her whole life."

"She doesn't usually do that." Sookie tasted the food and added more salt.

"It took her years just to say hi to Luke. Did I tell you that a friend of there's came up here just to see Luke?" Sookie looked over her shoulder and raised her brow in question, and saw Lorelai nodding her head.

"What is she like?" Sookie asked.

"Seems like a bitch to me." Lorelai bit out, taking another sip of her coffee.

_(Flashback the day after Rory left,)_

_Lorelai knocked on Sookie's door and waited for her to open it. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying all night. Sookie opened the door._

"_What's wrong?" Sookie said, moving out of the way to let Lorelai in._

"_I made a huge mistake last night." Lorelai blurted out between sobs, as she made her way to the sofa._

"_What did you do?" Sookie asked, in a somewhat accusatory tone._

"_I slept with Dean." Lorelai whispered, unable to look up at her best friend._

"_Lorelai…" Sookie gasped._

"_I know! I wish now that I didn't do anything with him!" Lorelai yelled._

"_What are you going to tell Rory?" Sookie asked, noticing Lorelai's shoulders shaking, as she sat down beside her._

"_She walked in on us." Lorelai revealed, trying to hold back her tears. She buried her head in her hands and cried as Sookie put her arm around her shoulders._

"_What did she do?" Sookie pushed, she had to know what happened. _

"_Called Tristan and took off with him to North Carolina." She let out before another set of sobs overtook her. A few minutes later, there was another knock at the door. Sookie quickly got up to answer it, just in case it might be Rory._

"_I'm looking for a Lorelai Gilmore." The young man stated. She looked over at Lorelai, and saw her wipe her eyes, as she made her way to the door. _

"_I'm Lorelai how did you know where to find me?" She asked, trying to figure out who this man was and what he wanted with her._

"_Just asked around." He said as he shrugged. He then held out an envelope to her. Lorelai eyed it warily before taking it out of his hands. He nodded and said, "Consider yourself served, Ms. Gilmore. Have a good day." He then turned and made his way back to his car. Lorelai realized what he had said and quickly took out the documents, and dropped them as soon as she read the first page. _

_Sookie bent down and picked it up. The document had both Lorelai and Rory's full names. At the top is stated that it was a petition for emancipation. Rory was seeking legal emancipation from Lorelai, her mother, her best friend. Sookie gasped, and looked at Lorelai._

"_Are you going to fight this?" Lorelai quickly regained her senses, and grabbed the legal papers from Sookie, then flipped to the last page. Her knees almost buckled when she saw that someone had already signed. She quickly pulled out her cell to talk to that person._

"_I don't want to talk to you right now." Chris said angrily into the phone._

"_You signed the papers?" She asked, trying to keep from crying again._

"_You slept with her boyfriend." He said simply, although she could tell he was very angry. In the background, she heard a car horn._

"_Where are you?" She asked as her eyes narrowed in suspicion._

"_An hour away from Stars Hollow." He stated calmly, knowing he was anything but. Her eyes quickly widened._

"_No Chris you can't come here." She blurted out._

"_You ran our daughter out of town and expect me not to come and yell at you." He said, beginning to lose his grip on his calm façade._

"_Chris please don't do this." She begged._

"_How could you do that to our daughter?" He was yelling over the phone. "How can you stand to look at yourself in the mirror? You lost your daughter over a seventeen year old boy!" He stressed the word 'boy' to her._

"_I never meant to hurt her." She whispered, a fresh set of tears, fighting to come out._

"_Just sign the damn papers and move on from this." He spat out._

"_How did you know?" She asked. _

"_It's not very often that my daughter is calling me crying so much, that a boy that I have never even met before has to take the phone from her and tell me what is wrong..." He was trying to keep the emotions from coming out. He took a deep breath then continued. "I'll tell you what, you sign the papers and I will turn my car around right now and stay in Boston."_

"_Okay." She closed the phone, signed the papers then sat down on the floor. Sookie sat down beside her and Lorelai cried on her shoulder._

_(End Flashback,)_

"Are you just saying that because Luke likes her?" Sookie said accusingly, no longer the bright sweet person that Lorelai always went to. Since that night. Sookie always let Lorelai know when she was wrong. Today was no exception. Lorelai looked away from her friend. "You're a married woman Lorelai. You gave up Rory for him." She pointed out, knowing she'd hit a nerve.

"I'm not into Luke." Lorelai said a bit too quickly.

"You're mad at her because she knows more about Rory then you do." Sookie once again pointed out, not allowing her friend to 'hide' from the truth.

"She has been there for Rory this whole time. When he leaves she's probably the first person that comes over and sees her." Sookie continued.

"You should thank her you know." She said, giving Lorelai a knowing look.

"Why?" Lorelai asked, incredulously.

"She's making sure that he is taking care of her." Sookie said, as if it were obvious.

"She doesn't need to do that. Tristan would never let anything happen to her." Lorelai said softly, looking into her coffee mug.

* * *

Rory watched as Tristan and Larry where out in the front yard throwing a football. She got to know Larry over the years and he reminded her of Tristan when he was in high school. Larry would date a woman for a few weeks and then dump her for the next blonde bimbo he saw at a bar. Rory walked outside and Larry threw up his hand in greeting.

"Hi Larry." She said a bit blandly.

"Leigh how's it hanging?" He asked not noticing her sullen demeanor.

"Just like yours." She said cynically.

"Ouch claws are out today. Dude you should've told me that the hormones were acting up today." He said in his usual way. Rory looked over at Tristan who just rubbed his eyes.

"So Larry when do we meet the next bimbo?" She asked with false sweetness.

"I'm going out tonight, so clear next Saturday for her." He said un-phased by her question.

"You know, you could try to meet some nice women." She said, not hiding her disappointment. He looked up at her and pointed his finger, but before he could say anything, she cut him off. "No I will not help you hook up with single mothers of the kids I teach." She said, glaring at him.

"Damn it! What, am I not pretty enough?" He asked, looking at Tristan.

"It's not that Larry, you're an asshole." Tristan stated simply, as he threw the ball back to Larry.

"Thanks sugar coating it, T." He said sarcastically. Rory walked inside as the phone rang.

"Hello." She answered.

"I need to speak to Lt. DuGrey please." Her heart immediately sunk in her chest.

"One second please." She walked outside just as Tristan put Larry in a headlock. "Tristan someone from the base is calling." Both guys stopped and looked up at her. The tears were already coming down her cheeks as Tristan walked up and grabbed the phone.

"Yea." Rory watched as Tristan was pacing around the porch. "Yes sir," He stopped and looked over at Rory. "Yes sir, I understand sir." He sat down on the swing. "Sir I just got back from a six month tour. My wife is pregnant sir." He stood back up and Rory walked into the house.

"Tomorrow. Yes sir." He turned off the phone as Larry nodded to him and walked over to his car. Tristan walked inside and saw Rory was sitting on the couch crying.

"When do you leave again?" She asked between sobs.

"They don't know yet. I have to report tomorrow to the practice range, and to complete some other training." He sat down beside her and she didn't look up at him.

"I can't do this without you. I won't do it without you Tristan." She had tears in her eyes as Tristan touched her cheek.

"I'm not gone yet. If a couple of things work out over there then I might not have to go." He took her chain in his hand and raised it. He wiped the tears off her face. "Just have a little faith that everything is going to work out for the best."

"My faith dies a little, every time you have leave!" She sobbed, looking into his eyes.

"I know and I hate knowing that I hurt you like that Rory. I love you more than anything in my life and knowing that I hurt you just tears me apart." She leaned up and touched her forehead on his and they both closed there eyes.

"I can't do what Carol did when Tony died." She whispered.

_(Flashback one year ago,)_

_Rory was sitting with Carol and some of the other SEALs' wives outside of Carol's house. They would meet every Wednesday for lunch. They were laughing as a black car pulled up the driveway. They all stopped when they saw two men in full dress uniforms walking up to them. Something happened and it wasn't for the best._

"_We're looking for a Carol McCoy." One of the officers asked, looking at all the women. Carol put her hand over her mouth as tears were in her eyes. "Can we talk in private ma'am?" he asked._

"_What ever you have to say please just say it." She said, trying to sound calm._

"_We're sorry to inform you that you're husband, Capt.Anthony McCoy was shot and killed in the line of duty." She was crying as Rory touched her shoulder._

"_No! They are on their way home today. This can't have happened." She cried hysterically._

"_The United States of America is sorry for your loss. If you need anything please let us know." She just nodded and the two men walked as the wives all gathered around Carol who was crying._

_Rory saw Tristan as he walked down the runway with his head down, she could tell that he was taking the news about Tony pretty hard. His arm was in a sling as he walked up to her and just grabbed a hold of her. His head was on her shoulder and she could feel the wetness from the tears that were streaming down his face. She was rubbing his back trying to comfort him. _

_Carol opened the door and saw Tristan was standing there with tears in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and they both were crying now. Rory was watching them and wiped her tears as Tristan pulled back some._

"_What happened?" She asked. They walked inside and sat down._

"_We were just doing some clean up job when out of no where they started firing at us. Tony pushed this new guy out of the way and got hit in the chest. The next shot that hit him was in his leg." Tristan left most of the details that happened that day. Carol didn't need to know everything. Tristan took a shaky breath. "By the time that I made it to him he was gasping for breath. I picked him up and carried him to the Hum-Vee that we had. His last words were that he loved you and to tell you to keep your promise to him." She nodded and Rory looked over at Carol who had stopped crying. She looked down at Tristan's arm and saw it had a bandage on it._

"_What happen to your arm?" Carol asked._

"_I caught some fire as I was carrying…" He couldn't say his name as Tristan closed his eyes._

"_I want you to speak at the funeral for me Tristan." She stated, taking Tristan by surprise._

"_I would be honored to." He whispered._

"_Captain McCoy was the best leader that a new soldier, any soldier for that matter, could ask for. He was a fair man. If you messed up, you were held accountable. If you did something great, he'd point out a flaw, just so that you would continue to strive to be better." Tristan was looking at all of his fellow SEALs and other military and government officials. "I just hope that some day I can be the type of soldier that would make the Captain proud. We didn't just lose a soldier, we lost a great person, a great friend, and more importantly a great husband. Carol I'm speaking for everyone here today that you are in our thoughts and prayers every night." Tristan walked over and gave her a hug before sitting down beside Rory._

_Rory watched as Carol placed the folded up flag under a glass case on the mantel. She saw the picture of Tony and Tristan was right beside it._

"_Carol is there anything that I can do to help?" She asked concerned._

"_You and Tristan have done enough Rory thanks." Carol smiled gratefully. _

"_If you don't mind me asking what promise did you make Tony?" Rory asked, unable to keep it in. Carol smiled._

"_I promised that if something were to happen to him that I would only cry for the first two days, and that I would move on and be happy with my life." Rory was looking at her. "Rory we never know what is going to happen to them when they leave for combat. The only thing we can do is pray that they come home alive and well."_

_(End Flashback,)

* * *

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. The next chapter is a filler chapter nothing major really happens in it. Once again thanks for all the reviews._


	13. Chapter 13

As always thanks goes out to **LoVe23 **for making the chapter better.

* * *

Three weeks since Tristan's company had been put on alert, but they hadn't received any orders to deploy. He went to the base everyday at seven and got home before she did. Rory walked inside of the house and took a deep breath. Tristan was cooking for her tonight. She toed off her shoes and sat her bag on the couch. She stopped when she saw Tristan hadn't come home yet. She sat down at the table and pulled out the test she gave the kids today. The door opened and Tristan walked inside and sat down beside of her.

"How was your day?" She asked, while still looking through the tests.

"We got a call this afternoon." He said softly. _'This is it.'_ she thought, as she closed her eyes. "We've been sat down for at least a few more months." She smiled and grabbed him by the neck and just hung on to him. He could feel her crying against his shoulder as he kissed her head. "I told you everything was going to work out Mary."

"You always say that." She laughed, smacking his shoulder playfully.

"And I'm always right." He said cockily. She laughed and hugged him tighter.

"What changed?" She asked, pulling back to look at him.

"Remember when I said if something works out?" She nodded. "Well a few of those things worked out. _So_…"

"Do you still have to go back to the base everyday?"

"Yea but only for a few hours a day instead of all day." She walked over and looked through her bag and pulled out a few pictures.

"You want to know the sex of our baby?" She asked happily. _'Her appointment!'_ He thought…he'd completely forgotten about it.

"I'm so sorry Rory I forgot about the appointment today." He moaned apologetically.

"It's alright she said everything is going just fine with me and your son." He looked at her with a smile on his face.

"We're having a baby boy?" She nodded and he hugged her. They had waited to find out the sex of the baby, but today Rory just wanted to know. "We're having a boy."

"I'm going to call Carol and tell her the news." She said. Tristan grinned and walked outside to get the mail when she picked up the phone. As he looked through the letters and bills, he saw that Lane had sent Rory a letter. He walked inside and sat the letter down as Rory was talking to Carol. He walked moved behind her, and pushed the hair from the back of her neck to the side. He started kissing the newly exposed skin as Rory was trying to push him away. She hung up the phone and he was still smiling at her.

"I've got to repaint the room now." He murmured. She put her arms around his neck and leaned into him.

"The room is perfect Tristan." He put his head on top of hers.

"A baby boy. We're having a baby boy." He muttered happily. She just nodded into his chest as he smiled.

* * *

_Flashback, (Three months after Rory left,)_

"_Lorelai Gilmore." She looked up at the nurse as she walked to the back. The doctor looked over her latest test results._

"_Ms. Gilmore your stress level is still too high." The doctor gravely advised._

"_I know doctor I've tried everything that you have told me to try." She exclaimed in frustration._

"_A little stress on the baby is alright, but your levels are just too high." She nodded knowing what was causing all of her stress. "Other then that everything looks great. I want to get you in my office in two weeks to check your stress levels again." She nodded and took the paper from his hands. _

"_How did it go?" She looked over at Dean as she walked out of the doctor's office._

"_My stress level is still to high, higher this month then last month." He opened her door and she got into the Jeep._

"_We need to get away from everyone go somewhere." She looked over at him and nodded._

"_Where are we going to go?"_

"_Anywhere you want to go Lor."_

"_We could just start driving and see where we end up." _

_End Flashback,

* * *

_

"Rory you got a letter from your sister." She looked up from the papers and took the letter. Tristan sat the rest of the mail down on the table and watched her.

"It's not Lorelai's handwriting. It looks likes Luke wrote the address for her."

"He didn't want Lorelai finding out where we lived. Are you going to open it?" She nodded and opened the letter. She couldn't hold what Lorelai and Dean done to her over her sister.

"She finished the book and really liked it." She put the letter down and looked over at him. "Nothing special just thanking me again for the book."

"You want to send her more books?" She nodded and he smiled. After being with her for so long he could almost read her mind

"I don't want to put Luke more in the middle then what he is." She started reading over the papers again.

"I could mail them out using the address from the base mail." He offered.

"I will put some books in a box for her then." She walked down the hallway to the makeshift library that Tristan was still working on. "When are you going to finish this for me?" She called out to him.

"I'm ordering pizza." He said, completely ignoring her question. She walked out of the room and saw him looking down at the menu.

"You know everything that they sell Tristan. Now are you going to answer my question?" She said, with her hands on her hips, eyebrow raised in question.

"I was thinking that instead of pizza that I'm going to get a calzone with everything." He again stated, ignoring her query. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Get me one too just pepperoni, and a medium cheese." She answered, giving up on getting any answers from him.

She'd been in the room when the pizza arrived. She came out with three books and set them on the table, as Tristan set down their food.

* * *

Lorelai saw a man walking up her steps with a box under his arm. He knocked on the door and Amy was right beside her.

"I have a package for Amy Forrester." The little girl raised her hand as he reached the box down to her. "I need you to sign her and your mom to sign beside your name." She had her tongue between her teeth as she signed her name. Lorelai followed and he thanked them.

"Who is it from?" Lorelai asked.

"First Lieutenant T. DuGrey. It's from Tristan mom." Amy cried out happily. The sick feeling everytime his name was ever mentioned came back to Lorelai. She saw her daughter open the box and she squealed and jumped up and down. "Rory sent me some more books mom."

"That's nice of her sweetie. Take them into your room and get changed we're going to grandma and grandpa's house for dinner." Amy took the box into her room and closed the door. Lorelai looked at the box and noticed that the address was from the military base.

* * *

Carol and Rory were inside of her kitchen making cookies. Rory had the day off for snow and with Tristan at the base, she was bored out of her mind sitting around the house watching day time television.

"Thought about any names yet?" Carol asked.

"I'm leaning towards McKinley." Rory answered. Carol looked over at her. "I saw a baby name book sitting in the doctor's office when I went." Rory shrugged, as she noticed the look on Carol's face. She was still looking at Rory. "Shut up." Rory muttered as she walked out of the room and Carol laughed at her.

"Rory get back in here and take your cookies out before they burn." She yelled out.

"Are you going to make fun of me anymore?" Rory called out.

"I make no promise!" Carol answered. Rory walked back into the kitchen and took the cookies out. "Are they done?"

"Yea Rory they are. I wasn't making fun of the name that you picked out. I was laughing because I know you made your list and had about twenty other names picked out." Carol revealed.

"You think you're so smart." Rory pouted.

"How many names were on that list of yours?" Carol asked, giving Rory a knowing look. Rory looked down at the pan of cookies and Carol laughed. "We need to wait for them to cool before frosting them."

"Do you really like the name?" Rory asked softly.

"Yea it's nice name Rory. I'm not the one who you should be having this talk with. You need to see if Tristan likes the name." Rory nodded and put the cookies onto the cooling rack.

* * *

This was a first. Walking into his house with the smell of fresh baked cookies. He walked over to the counter and grabbed a cookie. He saw a note saying Rory was going to Carol's house and will be home around nine. He walked down the hallway and looked at the soon to be study. He pulled his phone out.

"Larry we're going to finish the study today." He proclaimed.

"About time DuGrey." Larry laughed.

"Shut up man and get over here."

"I'll be right over with the tools man." Tristan hung up the phone and walked down the hallway. He walked into the room and saw that Rory had made a path to the other side and the rest of the floor was covered in books.

"It's going to be a long day." He said to himself and started picking up the books.

* * *

_Flashback (Two years ago)_

_Tristan carried in the last box into the new house. He looked around and saw Rory was nowhere in sight. Walking down the hallway, he saw her sitting on the floor reading a book._

"_What are you doing?" He asked, eyeing her curiously._

"_The light is better in this room." She shrugged not once looking up from the book._

"_Alright how about we make this room into a study for you?" He asked honestly. She looked up and smiled._

"_Does this mean no more moving around from apartment to apartment?" She asked hopefully._

"_Yep this is our new home." He exclaimed proudly. She stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry I made you move all the time Rory." He murmured in apology as he placed a kiss on her forehead._

"_That doesn't bother me Tristan as long as I was with you it was home." She said sweetly. A knock on the door broke up the moment. Rory walked past the boxes. Standing at the door were a man and woman who were holding a covered plate._

"_Hi I'm Carol McCoy and this is my husband Tony. We just wanted to bring you something over as a house warming gift." She handed Rory the plate as Tristan walked out and saluted his commanding officer._

"_At ease DuGrey we're not on base." Tony chuckled. Tristan walked over and put his arm around Rory._

"_Sorry sir. This is my wife Leigh." She waved at them._

"_Call me Rory it's a pleasure to meet you both." Tristan and Tony started opening boxes as Rory and Carol walked over to her house._

"_I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship."_

_End Flashback,

* * *

_

Rory stomped her feet before walking inside of the house. She knew that Larry was over after seeing his car in the driveway. She took off her coat and boots before walking down the hallway. She stopped and saw that Tristan and Larry were working on the study.

* * *

_Flashback, (One year ago)_

_She saw Tristan standing at the door looking into the room. Tony was helping Tristan work on her study. She saw the tears running down his face. After two weeks, he still didn't get a full night sleep. After he woke up, he would always come to this room and just stand at the doorway, never going inside. She put her hand on his shoulder and he closed his eyes._

"_I don't know what I'm going to do without him Rory. He was like a father to me." He said, holding back sobs._

"_It will get better Tristan just give it time." She whispered, trying to comfort her husband._

"_I shouldn't be like this. I should do what the other soldiers do and move on like nothing happened." He growled in frustration._

"_You crying over losing someone you cared about is being human Tristan. I don't want you to lose that part of yourself." She said reassuringly._

"_Promise me the same thing that Tony made Carol." He looked at her and her eyes were teary._

"_I can't do that Tristan. I love you too much and if something was to happen to you." She stopped and closed her eyes._

"_Rory if anything were to ever happen to me promise, me that you will move on with your life." He said, placing his hands on her shoulders._

"_You _are_ my life Tristan. I will not act like Carol and put on a brave face in front of people. I will lock myself in our room and cry for months over you. I can't lose you not after losing everything else in my life. I will _never_ find someone who I can love as much as I love you." She cried out, adamantly. _

"_I love you too Rory, but I would never want to see you like that." He said, his voice full of emotion, as he pulled her tight to him in a fierce hug._

"_Then keep coming home to me and we will both be happy." She said into his chest, as she returned his hug._

_(End Flashback)

* * *

_

"Looking great boys." She drawled in amusement. They turned around and she smiled at Tristan.

"You deserve to have a finished study Rory." Tristan explained. Larry just watched the two of them looking at each other.

"Ok this is making me sick seeing the two of you like this." He mockingly complained.

"Then go home Larry." Rory was now smiling at him.

"He can, after we're done here. Now _you_ little lady go and get off your feet." Tristan ordered, playfully pushing her out of the doorway.

"_Little_? Have you seen me lately? I'm as big as this house." She retorted. Larry laughed as Tristan smacked him in the back of the head.

"You look great babe." He said sincerely.

"Yea Rory, you do look great." She smiled at the two of them before walking to the bedroom. "What the hell did you smack me for?" Larry complained, rubbing the back of his head.

"Never laugh at a pregnant woman when they talk about how they look." Tristan said to him seriously.

"How am I suppose to know that?" Larry asked. Tristan handed him a list.

"Carol made me this list she found it online." He explained.

"Ten things not to say to a pregnant woman." Larry read out loud. He was reading the list as Tristan went back to work. "Number one. Never talk or laugh about their weight."

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter Tristan gets his orders from the base and it's not good. A flashback from Rory and Tristan's wedding will also happen. Once again thanks for reading and reviewing. 


	14. Chapter 14

As always thanks goes out to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better.

* * *

A week had passed since she last saw her study. Tristan kept the door locked and he was the only one with a key to the room. They were now standing outside of the door and he had his hand over her eyes.

"Tristan let me look please." She has been whining more over the last few days. He laughed at her. He was enjoying this little game.

"It will be longer if you keep this up." He said in a low voice. She felt him just standing behind her. After a few minutes, she heard the door unlocking. "Keep your eyes closed." He moved his hand from her eyes. She felt him pushing her forward and then wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Open your eyes." His breath tickled her ear and she opened her eyes and saw the dark blue room. The bookcases stood out they were painted white. All of her books she had gotten over the last six years were in order from how many times she had read them.

"Tristan this is great thank you." She turned around and kissed him. After they broke the kiss she turned around and saw that he had painted dog tags up on the wall.

"I wanted to remember him and that's the best way of doing it." He put his hand on her stomach and leaned his forehead to hers. "How's our son and his mom doing today?"

"We are doing good." He rubbed his nose on hers and she laughed. "He has settled down for me today." He smiled as they pulled apart.

"Well I need to go to the base for a few hours." She looked into his eyes and saw something was wrong.

"Tristan what is it?"

"We are going to be shipped out for about a month or two. Um something happened and we need to go clean it up." He said, unable to look her in the eye. She was stunned. She didn't know what to say right now.

"I'm not going to yell or anything. When did you find out?" She said calmly, trying not to let her voice break. He closed his eyes, cause he hated seeing Rory cry.

"When you were at work the base called." He said in a soft voice.

"When do you leave?" She said matching his tone, as she took a step closer to him.

"Saturday at zero six hundred hours." He said, finally looking at her face. She wrapped her arms around him and put her head on his shoulder. "I will be safe Rory nothing will happen to me I promise." He said, returning her embrace. She reached her hand up and touched the scar that was still on his arm.

"Just come back to me and everything will be alright." She said trying to be strong.

* * *

Luke was walking downstairs when he heard the phone ring. He saw Lorelai and Amy were sitting at a table laughing about something.

"Luke's" He said answering the phone. Lorelai happened to look over at Luke and noticed that he looked worried. "When... I can leave Saturday morning… Yea I will be there by Saturday night." He hung up the phone and was looking under the counter for something. Lorelai walked up and kicked the counter. He jerked up hitting his head.

"Who were you talking to?" She asked rudely. He was now rubbing his head and sat a sign on the counter. She smiled at him as he walked over and picked up a marker.

"I think you already know that answer Lorelai." He said, just as rudely. Her smile fell at the thought that something was wrong with Rory. He pulled the cap off the marker and started to write.

"Is she alright?" He looked up at her.

"I'm not talking to you about this Lorelai." He grabbed the tape and walked over to the door taping the sign up. "Why don't you go sit with your other daughter and leave me alone." With that, he walked upstairs to pack.

"What the hell was that suppose to mean 'leave you alone'?" She had her hands on her hips looking over at Luke. He didn't look up from his packing.

"I'm done with you Lorelai. I need to move on and start a new life for myself. I have had feelings for you since the first time I saw you all those years ago. Even after you hurt Rory, I still held out a little bit of hope that you would move past this whole Dean thing and want to be with me. After waiting for years and seeing you with him I'm done with it all. I'm moving on with my life without you." She had tears in her eyes.

"Luke." He held up his hand and she closed her mouth.

"Carol is a great person who I happen to like a lot. She makes me as happy as you ever could, and she wants to be with me and is willing to give everything into having a relationship with me. Something that you were never going to do. So I have moved on from you, from everyone here who never gave a damn about you running your own daughter out of town six years ago." She gasped at his words.

"What are you saying?" She said, afraid of what the answer would be.

"I think I'm going to sell the diner and move out of town." He said with a straight face. He then pushed the bag under his bed and walked out of the apartment and downstairs.

* * *

Rory opened her eyes and saw Tristan was in full uniform. All the medals that he had gotten over the years were shining, his boots were polished, and his hair was barley there after getting it cut. She pulled the covers over her chest as he turned around.

"God you're beautiful." He walked over and sat down on the bed, he stroked the side of her face as she closed her eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much." He whiped the tears from her cheek and she smiled at him.

"Tristan please be careful."

"I always am Rory. I love you." He kissed her. "Please don't cry." She just nodded and tried to fight the tears off.

"I love you too." She barley got out when she heard the knock on the door. Larry was going to take him to the base.

"Don't have the kid until I get back." He said seriously, as he pulled the covers down and kissed her stomach. She ran her hand over his short hair. "I love you." He whispered to her stomach, she pulled his head up again kissed him for what could be the last time. He grabbed his green bag and gave her a final smile.

"It's still in the same place?" She asked him and he nodded before walking out of the room. When she heard the door close, she broke down crying. She reached over, grabbed his pillow, and hugged it to her chest.

_Flashback (Two years ago.)_

_Rory saw Tristan walking towards her smiling he was in full uniform. Since he started training for the SEALs three months ago they never got to see each other. He ran over to her and kissed her._

"_I missed you so much." She looked down and saw the medal. He got his SEAL Trident._

"_You did it!" She squealed and jumped in his arms. "I'm so proud of you." She said as she kissed him again._

"_Marry me." He said, as he pulled back from the kiss. She pulled away from him with a shocked look on her face._

"_What?" She said in barely a whisper._

"_Marry me. I'm going to be going to god knows where soon. I want to know that if something were to happen to me you would be taken care of and because I'm madly in love with you." He said seriously. She wiped the tears from her eyes._

"_Ok." They laughed before she jumped into his arms again, kissing him._

_(End Flashback,)

* * *

_

Carol twisted the handle and walked into the house. She was carrying a plate of her chicken. Tristan had asked her to stay over with Rory until Luke got down here. She saw Rory was sitting on the couch looking at a photo album.

"Hey." Rory looked up and Carol could see that she had been crying.

"This was taken at our wedding." Rory pointed down to a picture of her and Tristan. She had never seen Rory and Tristan's wedding pictures.

_Flashback (Two years ago) _

_Rory was standing inside of a tent. She ran her hands down the front of her dress for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last few hours._

"_You look great Rory." She turned and saw her father standing by the opening of the tent._

"_Thanks dad." He could tell she was sad about something. "You wish she was here with you?"_

"_Yea I do." She looked over and saw her little sister was standing beside there father. "Gigi you look beautiful." The three year old just smiled. _

"_No wear shoes." Gigi bent down and took off her shoes._

"_Gigi put your..." Christopher began before Rory interrupted him._

"_No dad she has a great idea." Rory took off her sandals. "Go tell everyone to take off there shoes too." Chris nodded and bent down and took off his shoes._

_Rory was holding back her tears as she saw a bare foot Tristan standing beside Luke, Larry and his grandfather at the end of the flower trail. She wiggled her toes and felt the sand and smiled._

"_You ready kiddo?" Chris said, smiling down at his daughter._

"_You have no idea dad." She said matching his smile. The music began playing as they walked towards Tristan._

_She was standing alone as Tristan went off to talk to some of his friends from training. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. She took a deep breath and dialed a number that she had almost forgotten._

"_Hello." She heard the woman's voice and tears came down her face. "Hello. Mom the silent treatment isn't working on me anymore. As you can remember it only takes one of us to carry a conversation." _

"_Who's on the phone?" She heard his voice and quickly hung up and leaned her back against a lifeguard stand and cried. _

"_There you are. Rory what's wrong?" She looked over at her new husband, threw her arms around him, and cried on his shoulder. He was rubbing her bare back. After a few minutes, she pulled away and he wiped the remaining tears off her face. "They want to take pictures but I'll tell them you're not feeling well." He turned around and she grabbed his arm._

"_No! I want pictures." She pulled a mirror out and looked at herself. Her eyes were red and puffy, but her makeup still looked good. "Do I look alright?"_

"_You always look great to me Mrs. DuGrey." He said with a soft smile._

"_I love the sound of that." She said, laughing happily. He reached his hand out to her and she locked their fingers._

_Janlan was standing in front of her smiling. Rory reached her arms up and wrapped them around the older man and they started dancing._

"_Welcome to the family Rory." Janlan said in greeting._

"_Thanks Janlan for everything you have done for us. This place is beautiful." He looked around the beach._

"_Yea it is a great place." He answered in a playfully smug tone._

"_I'm going to pay you back for everything you've done for me over the last four years." Rory said seriously._

"_You already have Rory." He replied. She looked confused. _

"_How did I do that?" She followed his eyes over to Tristan who was holding Gigi and smiling._

"_You put that smile on my grandson's face. All I've ever wanted for him was to be on his own and happy." He said with a smile, as they continued their dance._

_Tristan was looking around the beach house as Rory slept. This was the first time he had been here since he was a little kid. After spending, the last few months in Colorado training, this seemed like heaven to him. Rory woke up and pulled the sheet closer to her body before getting out of bed._

"_Hey what are you doing up?" She asked, when she finally found him. He looked over at her._

"_I've been getting up at this time for the last few months." Even though she had lived in the same state as Tristan, she never got to see him much since he wasn't allowed to leave the base._

"_Well I just have to wear you out then." She walked over to the bed and let the sheet fall to the floor. Tristan smiled at her before walking over._

"_How are you going to do that?" She smiled and pushed him down on the bed._

"_I have my ways." _

_(End Flashback,)_

"You called Lorelai?" Carol asked and saw Rory nodded her head. "Why?"

"Every daughter wants her mother to be at her wedding day. I was no different." Rory closed the book and sat it down on the coffee table.

"My mom wasn't at my wedding to Tony." Rory was surprised Carol never said a bad word about her mom.

"Why?"

"She wanted me to marry some rich guy who lived next door to us. She was so mad at me when I came home and told her I was marrying a military man." Carol laughed at the memory of her mothers face. "Tony was everything I wanted in a man, but not what she wanted in a man for me."

"Did you guys fix everything before she died?" Rory asked, noticing the sad look in Carol's eye.

"Yea but I think she just didn't want to die without making it seem like she didn't hate me." Carol said truthfully.

"Do you think I should?" Rory asked, looking down at her hands.

"Our situations are totally different Rory. My mom hated the guy I married, your mom slept with your underage boyfriend and married him after she found out she was having his kid." Carol said rather bluntly.

"Yea but if something were to happen to one of us." Carol held up her hand.

"I can't answer your questions Rory. You need to do what you think is right with your life." Rory looked over at Carol and smiled.

"I don't need her as a mother to me anymore." Carol was looking at Rory now. "I have you." Rory hugged Carol. A knock on the door ended the moment for them. Rory walked over, opened it, and saw Luke was standing at her door. She threw her arms around him and he hugged her back.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter flashback will show what happened when Chris goes and sees Lorelai. Once again thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. 


	15. Chapter 15

Thanks as always goes out to my Beta **LoVe23** for making the chapter better.

* * *

Rory walked out of her bedroom and saw Luke and Carol were sitting on the couch, cuddled up next to each other, watching the old Christmas movies. This right here was one of the good things that came from Dean and Lorelai's relationship. She smiled for a moment, just taking in the scene of the two lovebirds. She sighed for a moment then went to her computer. Just like she did everyday, she checked online to see if there was any news. Like all wives who have husbands off at war, 'no news was good news'.

"Glad to see that you are awake." Carol said, as she looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"Sorry I've been tired lately. You guys don't have to stay here with me you know. I can take care of myself." Rory replied. A knock on the door got all of their attention.

Rory walked over and opened the door. "Dad." She whispered in shock. Chris smiled at her as she threw her arms around him. She was crying on his shoulder as he rubbed her back.

"Shh...Ror don't cry." He said soothingly. This was the first time that she had seen her dad since the last visit month ago.

"What are you doing here?" She managed, as she pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Tristan called me and said you might need some company, but it seems like you have a full house." He said taking in the other occupants of the house. "Luke, Carol it's great to see you guys again." He called out from the doorway. They both nodded to Chris as he walked inside of the house.

"How long are you staying?" Rory asked.

"For a few days since I know that you don't want everyone making a big deal out of this." Chris said giving her a smirk not unlike her husband's.

"Thanks for coming dad." She said giving him a small smile. "So which one of you is going to cook me something to eat?" She called out clapping her hands together and rubbing them in anticipation. Luke and Carol both jumped off the couch and walked into the kitchen as Chris followed them. Rory smiled as she sat down and put her feet up on the coffee table. "They are so whipped." She chuckled to herself.

_Flashback, (month after Rory left)_

_He pulled his motorcycle up to Lorelai's house. This was going to be the first face to face meeting between them since Rory had left. He put his helmet down and walked towards the door and knocked. The door opened and he punched Dean in the face. Lorelai stood beside the couch just looking at Chris._

"_That felt good. Now I think we have a lot of talking to do Lorelai." He said in an unusually calm manner. He then glared down at Dean. "Boy get the hell out of this house and go play with your toy cars." Dean looked back at Lorelai and she nodded. As Dean stood up,Chris got into his face once more. "You never deserved a wonderful girl like my daughter." He moved and Dean walked outside. "How could you do that to her Lorelai?" He saw Sookie walk out of the kitchen._

"_What's going on out here?" They both looked at her. "You're not going to yell at her Chris." Sookie reprimanded._

"_You want to make a bet." Chris said, turning back to glare at Lorelai._

"_You weren't around. You have no idea what happened." Sookie was standing up for Lorelai who still hadn't said anything yet. Chris just gave Sookie and incredulous look._

"_You're trying to make _me_ the bad parent in all of this?" He said in disbelief. He let out an unamused chuckle. "Oh, that's just rich." He shook his head in amazement. "_I_ didn't run my daughter off. I might've hurt her, but _she_ broke the poor girl's heart. She has to get over the fact that she broke up with her first boyfriend, and that her mother is a huge slut." Chris yelled in clear disgust._

"_Chris." He looked over at Lorelai. "I'm sorry." She said in a small voice._

"_That is getting a little old Lorelai. How can you be sorry if you are still with him? Sorry means nothing coming from your mouth." He gritted out, trying to calm himself._

"_You think I wanted Rory to leave?" Her tone not changing._

"_You must've since you were sleeping with her boyfriend. It was going to come out sooner or later. What did you think was going to happen when it did? Did you think she was just going to laugh it off and that she would start calling Dean 'Dad'? This was doomed from the moment you started what ever with that boy." He was yelling now and Lorelai knew that the neighbors were bound to hear him now. But she knew there was nothing she could do about it now. "Not only did Rory lose her mother she lost her best friend. You have caused so much damage to our daughter by being a spoiled bitch. You always wanted what everyone around you had as long as it would piss off your mother. After she hears about this you will accomplish your life time goal to make Emily Gilmore so pissed off at you she won't be able to see straight. Since my daughter doesn't live here anymore you will never see me around again." He walked out of the door as Sookie walked over and put her arm around Lorelai who was crying._

_End Flashback._

* * *

Chris woke up and looked outside and saw it was snowing and he smiled. Walking out to the living room he saw that Rory's coat was missing and the door unlocked.

"You're going to freeze out here." She turned around and smiled. Rory loved having her dad around.

"It's not that cold out yet." She said smiling. He wrapped his arm around her.

"How long have you been up?" Chris asked, enjoying this quiet time with his daughter.

"I can't really sleep without Tristan beside me. It's been a week and I've heard nothing from anyone. It's unlike Tristan to not send a letter or call home." She said, trying to hide her worry. Chris however, wasn't fooled.

"Maybe he's somewhere that he can't contact you yet." He said trying to ease her nerves.

"I just need to know that he's alright and safe." She said unable to hide the worry in her voice this time. Chris nodded and kissed her on top of the head. "I'm glad you're here dad." She said enjoying his warmth.

"Me too sweetie me too." He smiled.

* * *

One week had turned into two, two had turned into three. Christmas was here and Carol was on a little ladder putting the star on top of the tree. Rory clapped her hands as Carol stepped back looking at her work.

"It looks great Carol." They both sat down on the couch. Chris was getting ready to leave in a few days as was Luke. Luke was going to come back to spend Christmas with Carol and Rory.

"So Luke was talking about maybe moving down here for good. He said something about selling the diner and opening on around here." Carol said, starting conversation.

"Luke won't sell the diner it was his fathers, but you never know about him." Rory said with amusement. Although she would love to have Luke live closer to them, she really didn't think he could give up the diner. It was too important to him. Carol shrugged as she reached over and pulled out a box wrapped in Christmas paper. "Carol you didn't have to get me anything." Rory scolded.

"This one isn't from me. This is from your loving husband he gave it to me before he left." Carol said giving her a sympathetic smile. The tears were in Rory's eyes before she even grabbed the box. Rory ran her finger over his name.

"Should I open it?" Rory whispered.

"He said for you to open it when you're alone. You want me to leave?" Carol asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Not yet." They smiled at each other as Rory turned on the TV.

* * *

Amy was watching her dad finish up the tree that she picked out. Lorelai was sitting beside her telling Dean where to put everything so the tree was even all around.

"Mommy who made this?" She held up a snowflake that Rory had made when she was in grade school.

"Your sister did when she was about your age." Lorelai said, trying not to get choked up as the memory of that day ran through her head.

"Can I put it on the tree?" Amy asked, not noticing the lack of excitement that was normally present in her mother's voice.

"Yea come on." They walked over to the tree and Lorelai pointed to the middle of the tree where there was an opening. Dean saw the tears in Lorelai's eyes.

_Flashback Christmas six years ago,_

_Dean was looking at the decorations that were placed in a box. He was surprised at how neatly they were placed into the box. He picked up a paper snowflake and saw what a messier version of Rory's handwriting on the back of it._

"_Every year Rory and I would put the snowflake in the middle of the tree." He looked over at Lorelai who was crying._

"_We use to have a picture of me when I opened my first gift that mom would put right below the star." Dean offered._

"_We need to start something that is just for us you know." Lorelai said softly._

"_How about we go out and buy something." Dean said as Lorelai smiled. He held out his hand and they walked out of the house._

_End Flashback_

Dean handed Lorelai the star that they had bought on their first Christmas all those years ago. She leaned over and kissed him before putting the star on top of the tree.

"It looks good mommy." Dean picked up his daughter as she hugged him.

"Yea it does." She sat down on the couch as Dean walked over and turned off the lights. Amy walked over and flipped the switch as the tree lit up the living room.

"Wow." As all that Amy could say the tree this year was the biggest that they had in years.

"Yea, we out did ourselves this year." Dean sat down beside Lorelai as she put her head on his shoulder. Amy walked over and Dean lifted her up onto his lap.

* * *

"Are you sure you have to leave?" Rory was standing beside the door as Luke picked up his bag from the floor.

"Yea I can't keep the diner closed any longer then I already have." He said in apology.

"You'll be back in a week for Christmas right?" Rory asked, expectantly.

"I wouldn't miss Christmas with you and Carol for the world." He said smiling at her as he reached out to give her a hug. She hugged him as he kissed the top of her head. "Call me if you need anything alright." She nodded as Luke walked outside and into Carol's car. Rory closed the door as Chris walked over to her.

"Still nothing from Tristan?" He asked. She shook her head no, as she looked down. "He could be somewhere where they can't contact anyone."

"As long as no one from the government shows up knocking on my door I know he's ok." She said confidently. She picked up a cookie that Carol had made. "Besides he promised that he would come back to me and Tristan always keeps his promises." She smiled and sat down eating her cookie.

"I'm going to be leaving tomorrow if you're alright with that?" Chris asked.

"Yes dad I'm fine with it. Just be back before the Christmas party next week." She said before she picked up her laptop.

"Breaking out of the Middle East." Rory's head shot up as she turned the TV up. "The U.S. Military has just made a daring rescue attempt of the twenty POWs that have been held captive for the last month. The rescue team being lead by Navy SEALS stormed the house in the middle of the night. After an intense gunfight the SEALS were able to get the POWs out. No word yet on the hostages' condition or the condition of the SEALS involved. We'll have around the clock updates when more information becomes available." She had tears in her eyes as she looked over at Chris.

"I'm sure if Tristan was in the battle he got out alive." Chris said soothingly. She nodded and turned the TV off. "You want to get something to eat?" He asked hoping to ease her mind.

"No I think I'm going to lay down for a little bit." She said dejectedly.

* * *

Lorelai turned off the news and the first thing she thought about was Tristan and how Rory was taking the news. She didn't know why she was worrying about him after he took Rory away from her.

"Come on Lorelai, he took better care of her then you did." She mumbled to herself as she turned off the TV. She picked up the phone and was looking at the paper that had Rory's phone number on. If she were to call then Luke might answer and after the talk they had before he left she wasn't going to risk it. She dialed the number not caring who answered the phone.

Chris looked down at the phone and saw Lorelai's number was on the id. He looked down the hallway before answering it.

"What are you doing calling this number." He said in a hushed tone.

"Chris what are you doing answering the phone?" Lorelai wasn't expecting Chris to answer the phone.

"I'm visiting my daughter. Now why are you calling?" He said, not wanting Rory to hear him.

"I wanted to see if Tristan was alright?" He shook his head not really believing her.

"We haven't heard anything yet about him. Don't call her again Lorelai." He hung up the phone and erased the name from the phone.

* * *

Rory walked out from the bedroom to see everyone was already all around the tree waiting for her. She saw Gigi was sneaking away from everyone to get the gifts from under the tree. They had the small get together last night since Tristan wasn't home and Rory couldn't drink so the list was smaller this year then in the past. Everyone smiled at her as she sat down on the couch.

"Can we open the presents now?" They laughed at Gigi.

"Yea but only yours not everyone's gifts." She was pushing everything that didn't have her name on it away from her. Carol looked out the window and saw a black car pulled up in front of the house.

"Rory." She walked over and covered her mouth as tears came to her eyes. The two front doors opened and she saw the black polished boots crunching the snow on the ground.

"No." The driver was the first one out and was standing in front of the car. "No this can't be happening." She whispered as she began to waver. Chris walked up and helped her get her balance. He wiped his own eyes as he hugged his daughter. She walked towards the door and opened it.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Next chapter you will see if Tristan made it back to Rory like he promised. Rory also gets some visiters. Once again thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

As always thanks goes out to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better.

* * *

Rory watched, from the doorway, as she saw the car pull up and saw the men begin to step out.

The first man walked to the back of the car opening the trunk and pulling out a green bag. Rory saw Lt. T. L. DuGrey written on the side. The second person had his hat pulled down almost over his eyes. The first didn't say anything as he carried the bag and placed it on the porch. He walked over to the second and they saluted each other. The second man, finally lifted his hat off and Rory couldn't believe what she saw.

"Tristan." She said out loud. She couldn't believe it Tristan was home. He was walking towards the house as Rory walked out onto the porch. He picked up some speed now almost running towards her. She threw her arms around him as he picked her up. She ran her hand down his face as he leaned his forehead to hers. The tears were coming out of her eyes as they held each other. She pulled away and ran a hand down his face trying to make sure he was real. "You're real. It's really you." She whispered in awe.

"I told you I would come back for the both of you." He murmured. She smiled and kissed him as he leaned his head on hers.

"I was so scared that you weren't going to come home to me." She whispered again, this time, he could here the anxiety in her voice. Tristan sat her down as Carol walked over to him. She gave him a hug as he thanked her for staying with Rory.

Rory looked into the bedroom and saw that Tristan was asleep on the bed. He seemed better than the last time he came home.

* * *

"You're watching me." He looked over at her as she smiled.

"I just can't believe that you're home." She said quietly as if afraid to break the spell she was sure she was under. He sat up some as she walked into the room.

"Everything went off smoothly. We went in, did what we had to do, then got the hell out." He said calmly.

"Did you…?" She asked, trailing off not wanting to finish her thought.

"No I didn't." He answered, knowing what she was asking. She nodded as he made some room for her to lay down. "God I missed you so much." He said, watching her crawl into their bed.

"I missed you too." She said as kissed his forehead and he closed his eyes. "This is the greatest Christmas present that I've ever gotten."

"And I didn't even have to be naked under the tree with a bow around my." He began to say, before she covered his mouth. He just laughed and kissed her hand.

"I checked every morning to see what was going on. Every time that I heard a solder died I was waiting for the black car to pull up and…" She again trailed off, remembering the day he came home, and how she felt when she thought he wasn't coming back. He wiped the tears from her face leaving his hand on her cheek.

"Hey!" He admonished, lifting her chin with his finger to face him. "I told you nothing was going to happen to me and that I would come home to the both of you." She nodded as he closed his eyes. She moved as close as possible to his chest and closed her eyes as well. She'd missed this, being held by him while they slept. It was the best sleep she'd had in a long time.

* * *

_Flashback (Three months after Rory left Stars Hollow.)_

_Dean was standing at the front door to his parent's house. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand up and knocked. Since being kicked out and moving in with Lorelai, he hasn't seen his parents. The door opened and his mom looked at him. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight._

_"I missed you so much." She pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes._

_"I missed you too mom. Can I come in and talk to you?" He asked, looking into the house warily. She stepped aside, as he walked passed her and into the house._

_"Your dad is working overtime so we don't have to rush." She said, noticing his nervousness. They sat down as Dean put his hands together. "What's wrong Dean?" She asked in concern._

_"I think I've made a mistake mom. I'm not ready for this kind of relationship. I'm still a kid and scared out of my mind." He let out suddenly._

_"Then end it and move back home. I'll talk to your father about it." She said hurriedly, excited at the prospect of getting her son back. He stood up and walked around the room._

_"I can't do that mom." He said with the frustration clear in his voice. She stood up and moved in front of him._

_"Why not Dean?" She asked, getting him to stop his pacing._

_"Lorelai is pregnant mom." He broke down crying as he slid to the floor. His mom sat down beside him and took his head in her arms. No matter what happens he would always be her son and she would look out for him._

_End Flashback._

Dean saw Amy running towards him as he picked her up from spending a day with his mom and sister. His dad, no longer in the picture, left after he found out his mom was still talking to him and giving him money after Amy was born. His mom walked over and smiled at him.

"Was she good for you today?" He picked Amy up and she gave him a hug.

"Of course she was. How are you doing Dean?" She asked him the same question every day.

"I'm fine mom. Everything is going good." He said honestly. She smiled as they started walking towards his truck. "Are you coming over Christmas?"

"Yes. I'll be there in the morning, and then I'm spending the afternoon with your sister." She said, giving him a smile, before turning to go back in the house.

"Mom." He called out, stopping her momentarily. She turned to him with a questioning look. When she saw the look on her face, she put up her hand to stop him.

"No. Don't say anything Dean. I love you and I will always support you. You made one mistake and I'll never hold that against you." She said easily. Dean opened the door and Amy jumped inside the truck.

"I love you too mom." He said with a smile, and walking up to her. She kissed his cheek before leaning in, hugging, and kissing Amy. He closed the door and walked over to the other side. She waved at him as he started up the truck.

* * *

"Tristan what are you doing?" Rory asked. He had his hands over her eyes as they walked down the hallway.

"Giving you an early gift now be quiet." He admonished. She tried to move her head, but he kept his hand in place.

"You could just tell me where to walk to and I would've kept my eyes closed." She pouted. He laughed.

"Yea like our first Christmas together? When I told you where I put your gifts and I come home to find that you have them all opened up." He deadpanned. She laughed remembering the look on his face.

"I saved the stocking." She said with a huge cheesy smile on her face.

"Until I went to sleep that night. Now be quiet." He shushed. They stopped and Rory heard some giggling. Tristan moved his hand.

"What are you guys doing here?" She yelled. Louise, Madeline, Paris and Lane were all sitting on her couch with huge smiles on there faces.

"Well your husband called us before he left and asked us to come down here for your Christmas gift." Lane answered as she hugged Rory and the others soon followed.

"I have to go to the base for some more debriefing. You girls have fun." Tristan kissed Rory before nodding to the others as he walked out of the door.

"So how are the two of you doing?" Paris asked putting her hand on Rory's stomach.

"Well…my son and I are doing really well thank you!" She smiled, as the girls all squealed with joy.

_Flashback (Right after Rory left,)_

_"Where the hell is she?" Paris was standing right beside Rory's locker as she waited. "The bus ran past half an hour ago."_

_"Someone heard from their brother's ex girlfriend, who happens to be sisters with his current girlfriend, that Rory was out last night with Tristan and they seemed pretty cozy with each other." Louise said looking down at her nails. They all three looked up when Janlan walked out of the headmasters office._

_"What did Tristan do now?" Madeline asked as Paris walked over to Janlan._

_"Mr. DuGrey do you mind me asking what you're doing here?" Paris asked in her society voice._

_"Ms. Gellar it's always a pleasure to run into you. I'm here on some personal maters." Janlan answered vaguely._

_"Is Tristan coming back to Chilton?" Paris asked as Janlan shook his head._

_"Excuse me ladies but I have to go to work right now." He smiled at them before walking towards the door._

_"Listen up ladies and gentlemen we have to re-group today since Ms. Gilmore is no longer attending Chilton. Ms. Gellar you will have the option to do the report alone or join another group." Their professor announced._

_"What do you mean she is no longer attending?" Paris asked as the teacher just shrugged his shoulders_

_"Just what I said she transferred out this morning." Paris looked around at all the stunned faces in the classroom._

_"I will do it alone." She answered and the teacher nodded._

_Paris had just hung up her phone. She called Lorelai and something had seemed off. Paris was walking up the front door when she stopped and saw Dean and Lorelai sitting on her bed. His arm was around her and her head was sitting on his shoulder. She walked right inside of the house. Both Dean and Lorelai ran out of the room and stopped when they saw it was Paris._

_"Is this the reason why Rory wasn't in school today?" They both looked guilty. "Wow you two are some pieces of work. Mother stealing daughter's boyfriend, running said daughter into the arms of a person who at one time she hated." Paris scolded. For the first time, she truly felt sympathy for Rory._

_"How did you…" Lorelai started as Paris cut her off._

_"I saw Janlan at school and since he wasn't there for Tristan, and Louise knows someone, who knows someone else, who saw Rory and Tristan out with each other last night. I do now have the highest test scores since Rory seems to have left!" The volume of her voice grew with every word she spat out. She truly was disgusted with the people standing before her. She was once jealous of the relationship she thought Rory had with Lorelai. Right now she really felt sorry for Rory, and hoped she was ok. When done with her rant, she turned around to leave when she stopped. "How can you both just stand there with each other right now? What are you going to do when she leaves you for someone younger then you? You better not take her to prom…way to much competition." She sneered, before she walked out of the door._

_End flashback,_

"You never told me that you went to the house and told off Lorelai." Paris just smiled as Rory noticed Matt was sitting on the floor playing with a toy truck. "Where are the other halves?"

"Around somewhere. They wanted to look around and try to find a place to have a few drinks." Louise said as Lane was walking around the house.

"Rory this house is great." Lane said as she was still walking around.

"A little small for me." Madeline said as Paris looked over at her. "But nice." She corrected. It may have been a long way from Chilton, but Paris was still just as scary!

"Well this is the first house that Tristan and I lived in and it's free. The base pays for everything." Rory explained. Paris walked over and saw the pictures that were sitting below the window on a table.

"Who's in these pictures?" Rory walked over and picked one of them up.

"You have Carol who's like a mother to me. Her late husband Tony, and Larry who's Tristan's best friend, although I don't know why." Rory mumbled the last part as Paris walked over to where Rory and Tristan's college diplomas were hanging.

"St. John's never heard of it." Paris said, in her own Paris-like way.

"I told you when I last saw you. And if I know you the way I do, you immediately looked it up online, and know more than you're letting on." Paris looked away, hiding her smile, as Matt walked up to her and tugged on her pant leg.

"Momma I'm hungry." Paris looked over at Rory who smiled.

"How about you three go out for a few hours. Maybe spend some time with your husbands and I will watch Matt here." Paris looked at Rory who reached her hand down to her son.

"You sure about this?" Rory smiled and nodded as Matt took her hand. Paris leaned down and kissed the top of her son's head.

"Be good for Rory alright. She's a nice woman and will take good care of you." Paris instructed her son. He nodded as he and Rory started walking towards the kitchen and the others walked towards the door.

"So what do you want to do?" Rory asked, looking down at him. He shrugged his shoulders and Rory smiled. "You want some candy?" Rory walked over to the freezer and pulled out a piece of candy.

"Mommy said I'm not allowed to have chocolate." He recited. Rory just laughed and handed him the candy.

"Well if you don't tell your mommy, I won't tell her either. It'll be our little secret." She said conspiratorially. He nodded and took a little bit of the candy. "You want to watch TV?" She asked.

"Mommy says TV is bad for me." He again recited, as he ate his candy. Rory turned the TV on and they sat down on the couch.

"Your mommy needs to have the stick removed from her butt." She mumbled as Matt's eyes were glued to the TV now.

* * *

Tristan pulled up and saw the ladies were all standing on the porch looking at the door. He stepped out of the car quietly and walked up behind them.

"She never said if we should just open the door or if we have to knock." Lane said as Tristan laughed. They all jumped and looked at him.

"Just walk in. Everyone else does." He was the first into the house and saw Matt was running around the living room as Rory was trying to catch him. He walked over and picked the kid up as Paris looked over at Rory.

"Hi mommy! I had so much fun with Rory today. Can she watch me everyday instead of Miss. Kilmer she smells funny?" He said happily.

"What did I say about the way she smells?" Paris took Matt from Tristan who walked over to Rory and kissed her.

"To talk about it when she's not around like now." Matt smiled as Paris sat him down. He was about to take off when she grabbed his shirt.

"Did you give him candy?" Paris accused. Rory looked up at the ceiling and the group of women all laughed. "Thanks Rory he's going to be wired all night." Paris groaned.

"Just have Logan come pick him up, and you stay here, so we can catch up." Rory said, shrugging. Paris smiled at this idea.

"You are still very smart Rory Gilmore." Paris chuckled. The sound of her old last name took the smile off Rory's face. Once Paris realized her mistake, she quickly corrected it. "Sorry Rory DuGrey." Rory just smiled again as Paris called Logan.

* * *

Wow thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter that was the most that I've ever gotten for any chapter that I've writen. Next chapter is being worked on right now but will have the ladies out and even showing the guys hanging out. Once again thanks for reading and reviewing the last chapter.


	17. Chapter 17

Thanks as always goes out to **LoVe23** for making the chapter better.

* * *

As soon as everyone left, Rory sat down on the couch and began to rub her neck. She and the girls had gone out so she could show them around their little town. Eventually, they made their way back to the house to find that the guys were getting along mildly better than they'd left them. At least there was no bloodshed, not that she could see, so to her that was a victory.

"So, did you like your surprise?" Rory leaned her head back as Tristan bent down and kissed her.

"Yes. Thank you for everything. For inviting them all down to see me…for coming home, and for never giving up on me." Tristan bent down again and this time Rory reached her hand up and pulled his lips tighter to hers.

"As much fun as this is my neck is hurting." Rory mumbled as she let Tristan's head go. He gave her one more quick kiss before pulling back and giving her a sweet smile. He sat down beside her as she wrapped her arm around his. "Did you send out Amy's present?" She asked as he kissed the top of her head.

"Yea did you want to talk to her?" He replied. Rory looked over at Tristan. "Lorelai already has the number. She stole it from Luke and called here one day. I could call and tell Lorelai that you want to talk to Amy, but you know she will listen in on it. I will tell her that if she says anything you will hang up and never call Amy again." Rory thought about it before nodding. Tristan looked over his shoulder at the table behind the couch but didn't see the phone.

"Check in the fire place." She said when she noticed where he was looking. He rolled his eyes as she laughed. "When Matt was here he thought he heard Santa Claus on the roof. I was talking to Carol at the time when he made me look for him." Tristan walked over and picked up the now black phone. "We should buy a black phone it looks better then the white." He muttered as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a towel to wipe off the phone. "Not my good ones! You'll ruin them." She called out. He put the towel back on the counter and grabbed some paper towels.

* * *

"Who do we know with a 757 area code?" Lorelai jumped off the couch and grabbed the phone from Dean.

"It's in Virginia." Dean walked away as Lorelai answered the phone. "Rory?"

"No it's me." She heard Tristan's voice.

"Is Rory ok?" She waited for Tristan to answer.

"Yea is Amy around? Rory would like to talk to her." Lorelai looked down at Amy who was standing beside her dad. "If you say one word to her she will hang up you got that?" Lorelai closed her eyes knowing he meant it.

"Yea just a second." Lorelai walked over and handed the phone down to Amy. "It's Rory she wants to talk to you." Amy's eyes got really big as she grabbed the phone from her mom.

"Hi Rory." Amy said excitedly.

"How are you doing Amy?" Rory replied smiling at the happiness in the little girl's voice. Amy walked over and sat on the couch.

"Good I got a lot of presents today but daddy said that I have to wait to open them until we get back from grandma's house. Are you going to be there too?" She asked excitedly.

"No honey Tristan and I are at our house in Virginia." Rory replied.

"Okay." Amy answered, not hiding the sadness in her voice. Lorelai's heart clenched at the look on her little girl's face.

"But how about I call you tomorrow and you can tell me all about the gifts that everyone gave you." Rory said through the phone, not wanting Amy to be sad. That immediately brought a smile to Amy's face. "I know it will be late but Tristan and I sent you something for Christmas. It should be at your house in a few days."

"But I didn't get you guys anything." Amy pouted.

"How about you make us a 'Thank You' card and send that to us?" Amy just nodded. "I need to get off the phone, but I'll call you tomorrow, ok? Merry Christmas, Amy!"

"Merry Christmas, Rory!" Amy said, before hanging up the phone, then handed it up to her mom as Lorelai wiped away a few tears.

* * *

_Flashback (Rory and Tristan's first Christmas together) _

_Rory was standing beside Tristan as they both were looking at the little tree that was sitting on top of her table. They both looked at each other and Rory started laughing._

"_What?" Tristan looked over at her and she just pointed at the tree. _

"_It's just so small. What did you do steal it from Santa's elf's?" Tristan just stood there looking at Rory laughing._

"_They don't allow tree's in the apartment. This was the only one that I could sneak in here without getting caught." After everything that had happened Tristan was just so glad to hear Rory laughing again. "I like you like this you know?" He said as he continued to watch her laugh. She looked up at him as the laughter died down._

"_Like what?" They were now facing each other as Tristan reached down and grabbed her hands._

"_Laughing, smiling, and just being happy again." After sharing and "I love you." at the police station, it only made their friendship stronger._

"_I like it too." Rory said and she raised their joined hands and kissed his knuckles. "Thank you for everything Tristan." Rory looked up and saw that Tristan's eyes were closed. She undid their hands and reached up locking her fingers behind his neck. Tristan opened his eyes and was now staring straight into Rory's bright blue eyes. "I do love you Tristan. You mean everything to me now." She gave him a peck on the lips._

"_I love you too Rory." His kiss lasted longer as they made their way to her bedroom._

_Tristan looked over his shoulder and saw Rory was wrapped in a sheet, looking out the window. The moonlight was peaking though the blinds._

"_Wow." Rory turned around and smiled at Tristan who was now facing her. "You look beautiful. What's wrong?" He asked, noticing the tears that were now falling down her face as Tristan sat up in bed. Rory walked over and fell into his arms crying._

"_I remember my first Christmas without my parents." He whispered into her hair. "I was ten and they went to some island like they always did. We got hit with a blizzard and they called me at grandpa's house to tell me that since it was snowing so bad they decided to stay until winter was over and wouldn't be home until March. I cried until grandfather walked into the room. He sat down on my bed and put his arm around me. Then like he always did he just let me cry." _

_Rory's crying had slowed as she listened to Tristan's story. "He told me that I shouldn't cry over people who hurt you like that. Just focus on the people who you have in your life and will do anything for you." Rory looked up into his eyes. "I'm not telling you not to cry over her, but I want you to know that I'll do anything for you. I just want to see the day that you are happy again. I promise you that I will do what ever I can to make that day happen." He leaned down and kissed her forehead._

"_What if that day never comes?" She whispered into his chest._

"_Well, then that just means, I'll never leave you." Tristan laid them down and Rory moved closer to him as they both went back to sleep._

_The next morning, Tristan walked out of the room and saw Rory taking a picture of the tree. He walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist._

"_What are you doing?" She held up the camera and Tristan saw the picture of the tree._

"_To remember our first Christmas together." Tristan kissed the side of her head._

"_I could never forget it." She turned her head and kissed him._

_End Flashback _

* * *

Rory was looking at the pictures that were sitting on the fire place. Every picture was of Christmas trees from the little tree to the one that was sitting in the living room. Tristan walked over and held up a stocking that had boy written on the top. Rory smiled as she hung it beside hers.

"I know what I want to name him." Rory was looking at one picture of Tristan and Tony working on the tree. "Anthony Lucas DuGrey." She saw Tristan close his eyes. "If you don't want to name him Anthony…" She trailed off, waiting for his reaction. Tristan just smiled.

"He wouldn't like that, but I was never one who did things he liked." Tristan kissed Rory before walking over to the tree. "You never opened my gift to you."

"I wanted to wait until you were home before I did." She said, taking a seat next to the tree. Tristan picked it up and handed it to Rory. She took the top off and saw a red Christmas stocking.

"Umm Tristan we already hung up another stocking." He just smiled.

"Turn it over." Rory did and she saw the name on the stocking said Anthony.

"Tristan." She whispered, as tears began to form in her eyes.

"It was my way of letting you know what I wanted to name our son, in case something had happened to me." Rory picked up the stocking and smiled. She handed it to Tristan as he walked over and replaced the one that Rory had just hung up.

Carol knocked on the door and rubbed her hands together. The door opened as Tristan hugged her. Rory called her right after they hung up the stocking. She saw Rory was standing in front of the fireplace smiling.

"So what was so important that I just had to run right over?" Rory moved as Carol's eyes watered up. She raised her hand up over her mouth. "You guys don't have to do that." She said, unable to hold back the tears. Rory walked over and hugged Carol.

"We both wanted to Carol." Carol pulled back looking at Rory.

"What happened to McKinley?" Carol asked. Tristan mouthed 'McKinley' as Rory shrugged her shoulders.

"Anthony just sounds better." Rory handed Carol a wrapped gift. Carol opened it and saw a question written on it.

"Yes." The tears were now falling down Carol's face. "Yes I will be Anthony's godmother." Carol hugged Rory as Tristan walked over and she grabbed him. "This is the greatest present that anyone's ever given me."

* * *

"So Lorelai…Amy mentioned that Rory called to greet her today." Lorelai nodded taking a drink of water. "I'm so glad that Rory wants to get to know her sister." Emily stated. Lorelai just nodded again.

"Why did you invite them?" Emily followed Lorelai's eyes and saw Tristan's parents were talking to Richard

"They are family Lorelai." Emily reprimanded. Lorelai looked over at her mom.

"Not my family. Their son took my daughter away from me." Lorelai hissed. Emily laughed.

"Why are you still blaming him, Lorelai? You drove her away and once you can come to terms with the facts then maybe you and Rory could work things out." Emily walked away as Lorelai grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter that was walking past.

Lorelai was sitting outside when someone walked behind her. She looked up and saw Tristan's mom was looking at her.

"I'm not here to tell you that what you did was a horrible thing, because god knows I was not a great mother. The little bit of time that I spent with Leigh, I could tell that she had a great parent when she was growing up. I don't know the whole story and I don't really want to either. I just wanted to let you know that your daughter still cares about you and one day when you have forgiven yourself and she has put everything behind her, you two will see each other and just cry over everything that had happened." Lorelai saw her walking back towards the door.

"How do you know?" Lorelai called out. Tristan's mom turned her head.

"If my son can forgive me and his father for all the years that we missed his birthdays and holidays anything is possible." She replied with a small smile. Lorelai watched as Richard met the woman at the door. Lorelai got her phone out and was looking at Rory's number.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Once again thanks for reading and reviewing.


	18. Chapter 18

Rory sat down as Dr. Roberts smiled at her it has been awhile since she was last here and he was afraid that she had given up.

"Rory it's great to see you again." Rory smiled at the doctor. "How has everything been going for you?"

"Great for the first time in a long time everything is going great. Tristan is home, Tony is doing great." Rory had her hand on her stomach.

"Has your relationship with Lorelai changed any?" The smile left Rory's face. "That is why you're here for right?" Rory nodded. "Has anything happened on that front?"

"I don't think that I'm ready to forgive her, but I don't hate her anymore." Dr. Roberts nodded and was writing on his yellow pad. "I'm just tired of hating her."

"That's a step in the right direction." Rory nodded and closed her eyes.

"I was thinking about talking to Tristan about having Lorelai at the hospital when our son is born." Dr. Roberts pulled his glasses off.

Why would you want to do that?" Rory shrugged her shoulders.

"She should be able to tell everyone that she was at the hospital when her grandson was born. We have taken a lot of things from each other and I don't want to take this from her." The Dr. nodded and put his glasses back on.

"Now tell me about the best New Years that you ever had." Rory smiled and started talking.

_**Flashback (Rory and Tristan's first New Years together.)**_

**Tristan walked into the apartment and smiled at Rory she had a silver top hat with New Year's written in red glitter on it. **

"**You look." Rory walked over to him and smiled. She reached behind him and put the same hat on top of his head. **

"**Great, smart, sexy?" All that Tristan could do was laugh at his girlfriend. "You will agree if you want your midnight kiss." Tristan pulled her into his chest as Rory laughed.**

"**You always look sexy to me." He leaned down and kissed her.**

"**What do you always do on New Year's eve?" Tristan just looked down at Rory. "Everything that we have done has been what I would do if I were still home. I want to know what it is that you do on holidays." Tristan walked passed Rory and sat down on the couch. Rory was just looking at him as he took of the hat.**

"**Nothing special really. Go to someone's house that was having a party and just hang out with them." Rory nodded and pulled his arm around her. "This will be the first time that I have spent any holiday with the person that I cared so much about." Rory smiled up at him. "If I have you all this year it will be the greatest year of my life." Rory moved from under his arm and move to lay down. She pulled Tristan down on top of her and kissed him.**

**Tristan was laying behind Rory as she pulled the blanket further up. Tristan kissed her shoulder as she turned her head to look at him.**

"**All these years all that I got at midnight was a kiss this will have to be our new tradition having sex right before the ball drops." Rory laughed as Tristan kissed her. They broke apart when someone let off fire works outside.**

"**Happy New Year Tristan." Tristan smiled at her and kissed the top of her head.**

"**Happy New Year Rory."**

_End Flashback._

Rory walked into the house just as Tristan was taking down the Christmas tree. Tristan looked over at her and smiled.

"What?" Rory asked as she pulled her coat off.

"I still can't believe how lucky I am having you in my life. " Tristan walked over and put his arms around Rory. "In a few weeks we are going to have this beautiful little boy in our lives. I love you for everything that you have given me." Rory had tears in her eyes.

"I love you too Tristan more then anything. You have saved my life more times then I can count." Rory pulled his head down and kissed him.

* * *

Luke looked up and saw Lorelai and Amy were walking into the diner. This was the first time that the two of them had came in since he got back from Virginia,

"Luke can I have some milk please?" Amy asked while trying to get onto the stool by the counter. Lorelai helped her up as she sat down beside her. "Also some waffles." Luke nodded and looked over at Lorelai.

"Just coffee please." Luke walked into the back after getting Lorelai and Amy's beverages. Luke walked back out with Amy's waffles. "Are you really going to sell the diner?" Lorelai kept her voice low so no one could hear her.

"I could never sell this place, but I was thinking about letting someone else run it." Lorelai nodded. "For the first time Stars Hollow doesn't feel like home to me."

"I'm sorry for everything Luke." Luke just looked at Lorelai.

"Your sorry doesn't really mean to much right now Lorelai." Luke walked away to wait on some other customers.

* * *

"Tristan." Rory whispered his name. Tristan turned over and opened his eyes looking at her. "I think I want Lorelai at the hospital when I have Anthony." Tristan tuned on the light by the bed. "Not to see me or talk to me just so she can say she was at the hospital when her grandson was born. One of us has to make a gester to the other and she has been worrying about me and asking how you were doing. I just think it's my turn you know?" Tristan nodded. "I just want everything to go away the hate, the anger. I'm not ready to talk to her yet but I want to really try." Tristan reached up and touched her shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you right now Rory. If you want her to be at the hospital, I don't have a problem with that. It will be nice to have Amy around." Rory smiled down at Tristan. "What ever you want I will do I just want you to be happy I want that more then anything in this world." Rory leaned down and kissed him.

* * *

New chapter is up so sorry it took so long just haven't felt like writing. Proboly one or two more chapter in this story and it won't take so long for the next chapter.

Thanks for all the reviews and for staying with the story


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